Russell J. Hemley holds the position of Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences and Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, all in chemistry. Previously, he worked at the Carnegie Institution and has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Cornell University, and George Washington University. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Honoris Causa Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and is a recipient of the Balzan Prize and Percy W. Bridgman Award, among other honors. He has directed and continues to direct national materials science centers funded by the DOE, and has served on numerous DOE and DoD laboratory committees. He is also a member and former chair of the JASON Advisory Group.

Professor Hemley’s research explores the behavior of matter and materials in extreme environments, notably high pressures and temperatures. These efforts include the discovery and synthesis of novel materials such as very high temperature superconductors, topological, magnetic, and superhard materials; the rational design of new high-pressure materials from first-principles methods; transformations of hydrogen at multimegabar pressures; pressure-induced chemical reactions in molecular and biophysical systems; models for Earth and planetary interiors; development of extreme conditions techniques at x-ray, laser, and neutron facilities; and science issues related to national security. He has authored approximately 660 scientific publications.

Wang, H., Y. Yao, F. Peng, H. Liu, and R. J. Hemley, Quantum and classical proton diffusion in superconducting clathrate hydrides, Phys. Rev. Lett., 126, 117002 (2021).Bi, T., A. Shamp, T. Terpstra, R. J. Hemley, and E. Zurek, The Li-F-H ternary system at high pressures, arXiv:2012.15336, J. Chem. Phys., 154, 124709 (2021).

Lamichhane, A., R. Kumar, M. Ahart, N. Salke, N. Dasenbrock-Gammon,E. Snider, Y. Meng, B.Lavina, S. Chariton, V. B. Prakapenka, M. Somayazulu, R. P. Dias, and R. J. Hemley, X-ray diffraction and equation of state of the C-S-H room-temperature superconductor, J. Chem. Phys. 155, 114703 (2021).

Ge, Y., F.  Zhang, R. P. Dias, R. J. Hemley, and Y. Yao, Hole-doped room-temperature superconductivity in H₃S_1-xZ_x (Z=C, Si), arXiv:2011.1289, Materials Today Phys., 15, 100330 (2020).

Hendrickson, A. T., K. W. Hemawan, M. G. Coco Jr., S. C. Aro, S. A. McDaniel, P. J. Sazio, G. Cook, J. V. Badding, and R. J. Hemley, Diamond encapsulated silicon optical fibers synthesized by chemical vapor deposition, AIP Advances 10, 095009 (2020).

Anzolini, C., K. Marquardt, V. Stagno, L. Bindi, D. J. Frost, D. G. Pearson, J. W. Harris, R. J. Hemley, and F. Nestola, Evidence for complex iron oxides in the deep mantle from FeNi(Cu) inclusions in superdeep diamond, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 117, 21088–21094 (2020).

Cui, W., T. Bi, J. Shi, Y. Li, H. Liu, E. Zurek, and R. J. Hemley, New route to high-T_c superconductivity via CH4 intercalated H3S hydride perovskites, Phys. Rev. B. 101, 134504 (2020).

Huang, P., H. Liu, J. Lv, Q. Li, C. Long, Y. Wang, C. Chen, R. J. Hemley, and Y. Ma, Stability of H₃O at extreme conditions: Implications for the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.117, 5638-5643 (2020).

Borgschulte, A., J. Terreni, E. Billeter, L. Daemen, Y. Cheng, A. Pandey,Z. Łodziana, R. J. Hemley, and A. J. Ramirez-Cuesta, Inelastic neutron scattering evidencefor anomalous H-H distances in metal hydrides, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.  117, 4021-4026 (2020).

Hemley, R. J., M. Ahart, H. Liu, and M. Somayazulu, Road to room-temperature superconductivity: T_c above 260 K in lanthanum superhydride under pressure, Proceedings of the International Symposium – Superconductivity and Pressure: A Fruitful Relationship on the Road to Room Temperature Superconductivity – May 21–22, 2018, Madrid, Spain, edited by M. A. Alario y Franco (Fundación Ramón Areces, Madrid, 2019), pp. 199-213.

Celliers, P. M., M. Millot, S. Brygoo, R. S. McWilliams, D. E. Fratanduono, J. R. Rygg, A. F. Goncharov, P. Loubeyre, J. H. Eggert, J. L. Peterson, N. B. Meezan, S. Le Pape, G. W. Collins, R. Jeanloz, and R. J. Hemley, Response to comment: Insulator-metal transition in dense fluid deuterium, Science, 10.1126/science.aaw1970 (2019).

Somayazulu, M., M. Ahart, A. K. Mishra, Z. M. Geballe, M. Baldini, Y. Meng, V. V. Struzhkin, and R. J. Hemley, Evidence for superconductivity above 260 K in lanthanum superhydride at megabar pressures, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 027001 (2019).

PhD (1983), Harvard University
MA (1980) Harvard University
BA (1977) Wesleyan University

CDAC Director Russell Hemley presented a lecture on the scientific contributions and legacy of the late Neil Aschroft at the APS Conference on Shock Compression. Download the presentation here.