John ‘JJ’ Joannopoulos, a pioneering condensed-matter theorist who contributed to the launch of modern nanophotonics and mentored a plethora of scientists and engineers, passed away on 17 August 2025, aged 78. In his five decades at MIT, JJ combined first-principles insights with a gift for nurturing people, shaping fields from ab initio materials theory to photonic crystals and their applications.
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Soljačić, M., Fan, S. & Povinelli, M.L. John Joannopoulos (1947–2025). Nat. Photon. 19, 1158–1159 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01771-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01771-5
