[1] Along with Horst L. Störmer of Columbia University and Daniel C. Tsui of Princeton University, he was awarded a share of the 1998 Nobel Prize in physics for their explanation of the fractional quantum Hall effect.

This state has since been interpreted as the integer quantum Hall effect of the composite fermion.

in mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1972, and his Ph.D. in physics in 1979 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Laughlin published a book entitled A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down in 2005.

The book argues for emergence as a replacement for reductionism, in addition to general commentary on hot-topic issues.