physics

Stuart M. Lindsay

Stuart M. Lindsay is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stuart M. Lindsay rather than just read about it. In short: Stuart M. Lindsay (born 3 July 1951) is a British-American physicist, chemist and biophysicist.

Key takeaways

Stuart M. Lindsay belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stuart M. Lindsay to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stuart M. Lindsay from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stuart M. Lindsay (born 3 July 1951) is a British-American physicist, chemist and biophysicist. He is a Regents' Professor and University Professor of Physics and Chemistry at Arizona State University (ASU), where he directs the Biodesign Institute's Center for Single Molecule Biophysics. He is known for his development of scanning probe microscopy (particularly atomic force microscopy). He co-founded Molecular Imaging Corporation (acquired by Agilent Technologies in 2005, later part of Keysight Technologies), which commercialised advanced liquid-environment scanning probe instruments, and more recently Recognition Analytix.

Early life and education Lindsay was born in London, England, and earned his PhD in physics from the University of Manchester in 1976. He then worked briefly in solid-state physics research for Philips Industries in London before moving to the United States.

Career Lindsay joined the faculty of Arizona State University in 1979 and founded its biophysics program. He has held the Edward and Nadine Carson Presidential Chair in Physics and served as director of the Center for Single Molecule Biophysics since its establishment in 2002. In 1993 he co-founded Molecular Imaging Corporation with engineer Tianwei Jing to commercialise liquid-environment atomic force microscopes; the company was acquired by Agilent Technologies in November 2005 and later became part of Keysight Technologies. He has held consulting roles with Agilent/Keysight and co-founded Recognition Analytix.

Research Lindsay developed the use of scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy on biomolecules in aqueous environments. This work enabled high-resolution imaging of DNA and nucleoprotein complexes under physiological conditions. Early work includes STM/AFM imaging of nucleosome DNA in water (1989). His group advanced single-molecule electron transport measurements. These include reproducible conductance studies of alkanedithiols and organic molecules. He developed recognition-tunneling methods for identifying individual DNA bases and amino acids at the single-molecule level. He also contributed to nanopore sequencing technologies as co-author of a 2008 Nature Biotechnology review. Lindsay's group has explored long-range electron transport in proteins (protein wires). This includes conductance switching and the role of aromatic residues in mediating conductivity. He holds 56 U.S. patents in scanning probe instrumentation and molecular electronics and has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers.

Impact The instruments developed by Molecular Imaging (now Keysight) have become standard tools in nanotechnology and life-sciences research. The company is cited as a significant economic outcome of federally funded university research. His textbook is used for interdisciplinary nanoscience education. A special issue of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (2012) was dedicated to his work.

Awards and honors Humboldt Senior Scientist Award (1993) Fellow, American Physical Society (1990; for pioneering STM imaging of biomolecules in water) Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2003) Regents' Professor, Arizona State University (2008) Fellow, Institute of Physics (UK) (2011) Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (2014; inducted 2015) University Professor, Arizona State University (2014)

Selected publications Lindsay, S. M. (2009). Introduction to Nanoscience. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954421-9. (Described as the first comprehensive interdisciplinary textbook on the subject.) Branton, D.; Deamer, D. W.; Marziali, A.; ... Lindsay, S. M. ... (2008). "The potential and challenges of nanopore sequencing". Nature Biotechnology. 26 (10): 1146–1153. doi:10.1038/nbt.1495. Li, X.; He, J.; Hihath, J.; Xu, B.; Lindsay, S. M.; Tao, N. J. (2006). "Conductance of single alkanedithiols...". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 128 (6): 2135–2141. doi:10.1021/ja057316x (662+ citations). Lindsay, S. et al. (1989). "STM and AFM images of nucleosome DNA under water". Journal of Biomolecular Structure & Dynamics. 7 (2): 279–287. doi:10.1080/07391102.1989.10507771 (early pioneering work). Krishnan, S.; Lindsay, S. et al. (2023). "Long-Range Conductivity in Proteins Mediated by Aromatic Residues". ACS Physical Chemistry Au. 3 (5): 362–370. doi:10.1021/acsphyschemau.3c00017.

References

External links Stuart Lindsay faculty profile, Arizona State University Center for Single Molecule Biophysics

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stuart M. Lindsay

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stuart M. Lindsay claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stuart M. Lindsay before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stuart M. Lindsay ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stuart M. Lindsay

In research: Stuart M. Lindsay appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stuart M. Lindsay in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stuart M. Lindsay is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1951 births, American biophysicists, Arizona State University faculty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stuart M. Lindsay outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stuart M. Lindsay in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stuart M. Lindsay means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stuart M. Lindsay out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stuart M. Lindsay in simple terms?

Stuart M. Lindsay (born 3 July 1951) is a British-American physicist, chemist and biophysicist.

Why does Stuart M. Lindsay matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stuart M. Lindsay?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stuart M. Lindsay.