Alexander Obiefoka Enukora Animalu
born: August 28t, 1938
place: Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria
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B.Sc. Maths
(1962) University College, Ibadan; M.A. Cantab (1965) University
of Cambridge, U.K.
Ph.D. Theoretical
Solid State Physics (1962)
Professor Dept
of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Chairman/CEO, Institute of Basic Research,
4A Limpopo St, F.H.A., Maitama District,
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel/Fax +234-9-413-3759
Residence Phone: +234-9-523-1491
URL: http://www.i-b-r.org/animalu.htm
email:
Professor Alexander Obiefoka Enukora
Animalu, Chairman/CEO, Institute of Basic Research (Nigeria Division),
is a scientist, researcher, University teacher, administrator
and publisher; former Director National Mathematical Centre, Abuja;
President of Nigerian Academy of Science; and Winner Nigerian
National Merit Award 2000.
Born on the 28th August 1938, at Oba,
Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Professor
Alexander Animalu attended the University College, Ibadan from
1959 to 1962 graduating with B.Sc. (Maths) Second Class (Upper
division) in June 1962 on top of his class and winning the Faculty
of Science Prize for the best performance for two consecutive
years. He also won the Crowe's Prize on Abstract Algebra and Theory
of Numbers and the University College Postgraduate Scholarship.
It was this College Scholarship that saw him through the University
of Cambridge in the U.K. between October, 1962 and December, 1965
when he obtained the M.A. (Cantab) and Ph.D. (Maths) in Theoretical
Solid State Physics. The high quality of his Ph.D. thesis was
attested to, when the main results were published in the Philosophical
Magazine in 1965 and included in W.A. Harrison's book entitled
"Pseudopotentials in the Theory of Metals". The book
contained the model potential tables which were in such high demand
by researchers in the field of metal physics and semiconductor
electronics that the Ph.D. thesis work became by 1983, a citation
classic, having been cited more than 729 times between 1965 and
2001. Professor Animalu is the only African in Physics to have
earned such a record of citations, his paper being the best among
the best twelve cited papers from the University of Cambridge
in fifty years (1930-1980). It is of interest to note that four
of these twelve most cited works from Cambridge have subsequently
won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Between January, 1966 and December, 1967,
he was Research Associate in Division of Applied Physics, Stanford
University and between January, 1968 and August, 1968, a visiting
scientist at the Department of Physics, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill. In September, 1968, he was appointed Assistant Professor
of Physics at the University of Missouri, Rolla. His research
works were in the fields of solid state and elementary particle
physics. In 1970, moving through Drexel University in Pennsylvania,
as Associate Professor of Physics, a major breakthrough in his
career came in April 1972 when he was appointed a research physicist,
at the Lincoln Laboratory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(M.I.T.) working under Professor H.J. Zeiger and Professor J.B.
Goodenough on research projects related to development of computer
core memory and primarily on the development of the transition-metal
model potential, thus extending his Ph.D. thesis area to now include
all elements of the Periodic Elements of Chemical Elements. It
was within this period that he completed his main line book entitled
Intermediate Quantum Theory of Crystalline Solids published by
Prentice-Hall of New Jersey in 1977. It became a world-wide classic
with an Indian Edition published by Prentice-Hall of India in
1978. It was also translated into Russian by the Russian Academy
of Science in 1981, reprinted in USA in 1994 and is currently
on the world-wide web.
His achievements in teaching and research
in the UK and USA between 1962-1976 having equipped him intellectually,
he was now prepared for challenges he was going to face on return
to Nigeria in 1976. Within a year of coming back, he surrendered
his green card to the American government in order to better focus
his intellect on the development of Nigeria. His return to Nigeria
never diminished his productive scholarship and international
recognition. His continued contributions to the field of theoretical
solid state physics led to his recognition as the only African
member till date of the Advisory Board of the Euro-Journal Physica
(B). His recent theory of high-temperature superconductivity based
on the novelty of the pairing mechanism for electrons published
in Hadronic Journal in 1991 led to his recognition as the only
African member of the Editorial Board of the USA-based international
Hadronic Journal and Hadronic Journal Supplement. He is the founding
editor of the Nigerian Journal of Solar Energy and one of the
pioneering editors of the Bulletin of the Nigerian Institute of
Physics.
Professor Animalu who was the Foundation
President of the Solar Energy Society of Nigeria has trained many
Nigerians in the field of theoretical physics and solar energy.
Here are four articles support of Gabriel Oyibo's
We had help preparing this web page from Dr. Animalu and Sean Wakarofia
references: http://www.i-b-r.org/animalu.htm
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5/27/1997
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