Thomas F. Rosenbaum holds a bachelor's degree in Physics with honors from Harvard University, and an MA and PhD in Physics from Princeton University. He presently serves as Provost of the University of Chicago. In addition to his responsibilities for academic and research programmes across the University, Rosenbaum serves on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory. He is an expert on the quantum mechanical nature of materials - the physics of electronic, magnetic and optical materials at the atomic level - that are best observed at temperatures near absolute zero. He conducted research at Bell Laboratories and at IBM Watson Research Center before joining the Chicago faculty in 1983. He directed the University's Materials Research Laboratory from 1991 to 1994 and the University's James Franck Institute from 1995 to 2001, and served as Vice President for Research and for Argonne National Laboratory from 2002 to 2006. His honours include an Alfred P.

Sloan Research Fellowship, a Presidential Young Investigator Award, and the William McMillan Award for Outstanding Contributions to Condensed Matter Physics. Rosenbaum is an elected fellow and Centennial Lecturer of the American Physical Society, and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Investigator Award, and the William McMillan Award for Outstanding Contributions to Condensed Matter Physics. Rosenbaum is an elected fellow and Centennial Lecturer of the American Physical Society, and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.