A University of Johannesburg lecturer has become the first woman in Africa to be awarded a doctoral degree in experimental physics of highly correlated matter, the university said on Monday.
Buyisiwe Sondezi was awarded a PhD for her research on quantum criticality in matter, which is a quantum mechanical property that characterises the birth of collective behaviour in matter at extremely low temperatures, said Prof Andre Strydom.
He supervised her doctoral studies.
“The research direction for Dr Sondezi’s thesis draws a great deal of attention worldwide, because it is widely recognised as a frontier in the physics of highly correlated matter,” Strydom said in a statement.
Explaining the research, Sondezi said: “Simply put, the study is based on researching and finding new physics on rare-earth compounds at low temperatures. This fundamental study opens up new interesting physics and properties of materials at ultra-low temperatures.”
She acquired her doctorate through the University of Johannesburg.
Source : Sapa /nsm/ks/th
