Albert-László Barabási: "I am driven by the desire to advance the field of physics".

Albert-László Barabási is a network scientist, fascinated with a wide range of topics, from unveiling the structure of the brain to treating diseases using network medicine, but also the development of communication technologies – like the internet and social media. The prize jury awards him the Lise Meitner Award for Fundamental contributions to the statistical physics of real-world networks and the revolutionary insight that they are a result of growth by preferential attachment.

“Network science has profoundly influenced numerous disciplines: it gave rise to network medicine, paving the way for novel treatments and diagnostics; it transformed pathogen forecasting into a predictive science; and the current algorithms driving much of the internet and social media owe their origins to network scientists", sais Albert László.

"Yet, at my core, I remain a physicist—trained, thinking, and driven by the desire to advance the field of physics. Receiving the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award holds special significance, as it is awarded by the physics community of Gothenburg and carries the name of the most remarkable woman physicist in history. I am deeply honored”.

Albert-László Barabási spends most of his time in Boston, where is the Robert Gray Dodge Professor of Network Science at Northeastern University, and holds an appointment in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. But he splits his time with Budapest, where he runs an European Research Council project at Central European University. 

We asked Albert-László a few questions about his current research and also future ambitions.

What is the current focus of your research?

"Most of the networks network science has focused on in the past two decades are virtual and immaterial—like social networks, which capture acquaintances without implying a constant interaction or a persistent handshake between two individuals. Recently, I’ve become fascinated by physical networks—those whose links are tangible, physical objects.”

“A prime example is the brain, where neurons act as physical 'cables' connected by synapses, requiring consistent physical proximity for two neurons to communicate. These physical networks offer new challenges to network science, largely because the links and nodes in such systems cannot cross one another and are not easily restructured if they become entangled. These pose rather hard analytical questions that we are only beginning to explore”.

Why is this particular research direction interesting?

“Before turning to network science, I studied quantum dots and surface physics, and this background in materials continues to shape my current interest in physical networks. Most materials have a somewhat limited structure from a network perspective: For instance, atoms like carbon or silicon can only bond with a maximum of four other atoms. In contrast, network science has revealed that networks outside of materials exhibit far greater diversity, both in the number of connections nodes can have and in the strength of those ties.”

“Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, now allows us to create virtually any network structure, prompting the exciting question: What novel network architectures could we imagine that might lead to entirely new materials?”

What would be a dream discovery or breakthrough for you and your research?

“Building materials with completely novel properties—such as those that respond to stress or shock in unconventional ways, or that can absorb radiation across all frequencies, rather than the selective ranges current materials manage—is an exciting frontier. Honestly, I believe we currently lack the imagination to fully envision what new possibilities might emerge from materials with entirely new network organizations. The potential for such innovations is vast, and we are just beginning to explore the boundaries of what these novel structures could offer”. 

More info: 

Read more about the Lise Meitner Award.

Read more about Albert-László Barabási´s research.