Robert Alan Buhrman 
 
April 24, 1945 – April 13, 2021 
 
 
Robert (Bob) Alan Buhrman (M.S. ‘69, Ph.D. ‘73), John Edson Sweet Memorial Emeritus 
Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics and Cornell’s second Senior Vice Provost for 
Research died April 13, 2021 after a battle with cancer. 
 
He was born on April 24, 1945 and raised on a small produce and poultry farm in Maryland near 
the Catoctin Mountains. His father was a farmer and machinist, and his mother was a 
schoolteacher. In high school, he earned a full merit scholarship to Johns Hopkins University 
where he majored in Engineering Physics. After a chance comment at a Baltimore gathering, he 
decided to come to Cornell for graduate work in Applied Physics. 
 
Bob’s thesis research on “zero-dimensional” superconductors was his gateway to a long and 
distinguished career of research in nanotechnology. His Ph.D. advisor, Professor Watt Webb, 
who was making a transition from solid-state physics to biophysics at the time, decided to give 
his solid-state physics lab equipment to Bob, and then commented to the department that “you 
might want to hire him.” They agreed. Upon graduation, he began immediately as assistant 
professor at Cornell in Applied and Engineering Physics. He recounted that he defended his 
thesis one day and taught his first class the next. 
 
From that point until his death, Bob led a research group that touched on a wide range of topics 
in nanoscience and nanotechnology, including applied superconductivity, high-efficiency light 
absorbers, properties of electric transport through nanoscale devices, and nanomagnetism. One 
highlight from the mid-1980’s was his discovery that the ubiquitous 1/f noise in metal-
insulating-metal tunnel junctions are due to collections of two-level fluctuators – atoms that can 
shift back and forth between two different positions – which he showed by making a small 
enough junction that the motion of individual fluctuators could be separately observed. This 
finding remains relevant today in understanding the performance of tunnel devices including 
superconducting junctions used in quantum computers. 
 
He is best known for his seminal contributions to nanomagnetism and spintronics in 
collaboration with his former student and Cornell Physics faculty member Dan Ralph. In a series 
of highly cited research papers starting around 1999, they first reported the ability to controllably 
switch a nanomagnet using spin-polarized electrical current rather than a magnetic field, an 
effect known as spin-transfer torque. These experiments were scientifically important in the field 
of magnetism, and they enabled technological developments that exist today as commercial 
products (spin-transfer-torque magnetic random access memory). Bob reinvigorated the 
magnetism research community again in 2011 by demonstrating the spin Hall effect in heavy 
metal/ferromagnetic metal bilayers. This effect had previously been thought of as a small, 
esoteric, and difficult to observe phenomena in semiconductors, but was discovered by Bob and 
his student Luqiao Liu to be very large in normal metals with a strong spin-orbit interaction. It 
proved to be an even more efficient way to switch the direction of small magnets compared to 
spin-transfer torque, launching a world-wide effort now underway to develop an improved 
generation of magnetic memory devices. As before, the discovery led to rich and interesting 
physical phenomena at the forefront of condensed matter physics. 
 
Despite the high impact of his many research accomplishments on both science and technology, 
Bob was known to spurn hype. He gained recognition as a clear and practical thinker in research, 
teaching, and administration. These qualities served him well during his decade-long service as 
director of Applied and Engineering Physics (AEP). During that time Bob made critical 
decisions that shaped AEP in terms of research focus, culture, and teaching. He took a similar 
approach with him to Day Hall when he became Cornell’s Senior Vice Provost for Research. 
When he finally stepped down from that role after another ten years of service, he was so well 
known for his integrity, dedication, and good judgement that Professor Melissa Hines 
commemorated the event by distributing coffee mugs labeled with the letters “WWBD,” which 
stands for “What would Bob do?” as a model to Cornellians going forward. 
 
His reputation for good judgment caused his students and colleagues to solicit his advice, which 
he was sometimes reluctant to give. When he did, it was memorable. For an example, former 
graduate student Brian Moeckly asked Bob for career advice when unsure of which job to 
pursue. Bob’s reply was, “if you don’t know what to do, do that which will maximize your short-
term happiness.” Bob’s graduate students recall him as a good advisor who didn’t help “too 
much.” He let students learn to make good decisions by allowing (or helping) them to make them 
on their own. 
 
Despite a carefully cultivated gruff exterior, Bob was thoughtful and cared about other people. 
He was also devoted to teaching; even returning to it after stepping down as Senior Vice Provost 
for Research. Most recently he taught statistical mechanics to a joint class of seniors from AEP 
and Physics. As founding director for the National Science Foundation supported Center for 
Nanoscale Systems, Bob also created the Cornell Institute for Physics Teachers on a suggestion 
from his daughter, Susannah Buhrman-Deever. 
 
Firmly cemented after more than 50 years at Cornell, Bob’s legacy endures. The impact of his 
research on science and society, the scientific and leadership contributions he made to Cornell 
research centers, the numerous graduate students that he trained who continue to work in 
academia, industry, and government, the high quality of his teaching, the strength of his 
leadership in AEP, and the many positive changes he made for Cornell Research as Senior Vice 
Provost are only a few examples of his tremendous impact on our community. 
 
Written by Greg Fuchs, John Buhrman, Dan Ralph, and Lois Pollack