Sponsored by the CSC Physical, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Division
The Tom Ziegler Award is presented in honour of Prof. Tom Ziegler (1945-2015) to a scientist residing in Canada who has made an outstanding early-career contribution to theoretical and/or computational chemistry.
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
The 2026 winner of the Tom Ziegler Award is:
Paul Andrew Johnson, MCIC
Université Laval
Paul Andrew Johnson is an Associate Professor at Université Laval whose research focusses on the development of computational methods for strong electronic correlation.
Paul’s research follows a clear and purposeful trajectory. His work on Richardson-Gaudin (RG) states began during his doctoral studies (Paul W. Ayers, McMaster Chemistry and Dimitri Van Neck, Patrick Bultinck, Ghent Physics), expanded during his postdoc (Gustavo E. Scuseria, Rice University), and now forms the backbone of his independent research program. While conventional methods fail for strong electronic correlation, RG states work quite well. His group has conclusively shown that RG states are not only conceptually robust but also computationally scalable for treating complex systems in quantum chemistry, condensed matter physics, and nuclear structure. Long tedious technical developments provided simple expressions to compute. The underlying physics has been solved—what remains is a challenge in computer science.
Paul’s career reflects a sustained commitment to addressing complex scientific challenges through a combination of intellectual rigour, technical skill, and collaborative spirit.