Alfred Msezane

Alfred Zakhele Msezane (born 31 December 1938) is a South African physicist. He is a professor in the Department of Physics at Clark Atlanta University, and the Founding Director of the Center for Theoretical Studies of Physical Systems. into a Zulu family. Due to apartheid policies, he was not able to enrol in any White-only university. Instead, with a Rotary International Scholarship, he enrolled in University of Fort Hare in 1960 and obtained a B.Sc.-Honours degree in physics in 1965. In 1983, Msezane became professor and served as chair of the physics department from 1986 to 1989 at Atlanta University, which was merged with Clark College in 1988 to become Clark Atlanta University. He carries out research in theoretical atomic and molecular physics, mathematical physics, condensed matter physics, and image processing.

He is the founding director of the Center for Theoretical Studies of Physical Systems (CTSPS) at Clark Atlanta University, which was established in 1991 through an approximately 5 million dollar grant by the NSF which was further renewed at the same funding level in 1996. The center focuses on low-energy scattering theory, solid-state theory, image processing and mathematical physics theory.

Awards and honors Msezane's awards and honors include:

1965: World University Service Scholarship, University of Saskatchewan 1998: Honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the University of Fort Hare (South Africa) 1999: Fellow of the American Physical Society and Life Member. 1999: Edward A. Bouchet Award of the American Physical Society 2011: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 2016: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2011: Fellow of the Institute of Physics, London, UK 2020: Fellow of the African Scientific Institute