Background
Gordon Semenoff was born on July 11, 1953 in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada where he attended Matthew Halton High School, graduating in the Class of 1971.
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Gordon Semenoff
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After completing Bachelor of Science (1976) and Doctor of Philosophy (1981) Degrees at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Gordon spent one year, 1981–1982, as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta and a subsequent year, 1982–1983, as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Theoretical Physics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Career
He is known for his research on quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and string theory and is particularly famous for his co-invention, together with Antti Niemi, of the parity anomaly in odd-dimensional gauge field theories and for his pioneering work on graphene. He is also well known for development of thermal field theory, the application of index theorems and their generalizations in quantum field theory and string theory, notably with respect to the duality between string theories and gauge field theories. In 1983 he was appointed a University Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia and has spent the remainder of his career to date at that institution, being promoted to Full Professor in 1990.
He has held a number of prestigious visiting appointments, including membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey in 1984, 1985 and 2000, and visiting professorships at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule ) in Zurich, Switzerland in 1986, Hokkaido University in Hokkaido, Japan in 1989, the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1989, 1999 and 2012, Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden in 2000, the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris, France in 2001 and 2011, the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) in Bures sur Yvette, France in 2005 and 2006, the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, United Kingdom in 2007 and 2012 and the University of Tours in Tours, France in 2008.
Achievements
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Jacob Biely Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 2013 Officer of the Order of Canada, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Canadian Association of Physicists, 2012 Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Lethbridge, Canada, 2011 Brockhouse Medal for Achievement in Condensed Matter and Material Physics (Canadian Association of Physicists) 2010 Majorana Prize 2006 Civil Air Patrol/Communications Resource Management Medal for Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 2000 Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2000 Macdowell Medal of the University of British Columbia in 1990 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, 1989 Killam Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 1989 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council University Research Fellowship, 1983 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1982 Alberta Graduate Fellowship 1980–1981 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postgraduate Fellowship 1976–1980.
Awards
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Officer of the Order of Canada Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; Majorana Prize; Order of Canada Jacob Biely Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 2013 Officer of the Order of Canada, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Canadian Association of Physicists, 2012 Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Lethbridge, Canada, 2011 Brockhouse Medal for Achievement in Condensed Matter and Material Physics (Canadian Association of Physicists) 2010 Majorana Prize 2006 CAP/CRM Medal for Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 2000 Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2000 Macdowell Medal of the University of British Columbia in 1990 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, 1989 Killam Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 1989 NSERC University Research Fellowship, 1983 NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1982 Alberta Graduate Fellowship 1980–1981 NSERC Postgraduate Fellowship 1976–1980 The journal annually awards the Majorana Prize, also known as the Majorana Medal, to recognize outstanding contributions to theoretical and mathematical physics.; The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is the second highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada.Officer of the Order of Canada Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; Majorana Prize; Order of Canada Jacob Biely Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 2013 Officer of the Order of Canada, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Canadian Association of Physicists, 2012 Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Lethbridge, Canada, 2011 Brockhouse Medal for Achievement in Condensed Matter and Material Physics (Canadian Association of Physicists) 2010 Majorana Prize 2006 CAP/CRM Medal for Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 2000 Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2000 Macdowell Medal of the University of British Columbia in 1990 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, 1989 Killam Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 1989 NSERC University Research Fellowship, 1983 NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1982 Alberta Graduate Fellowship 1980–1981 NSERC Postgraduate Fellowship 1976–1980 The journal annually awards the Majorana Prize, also known as the Majorana Medal, to recognize outstanding contributions to theoretical and mathematical physics.; The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is the second highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada.