Russell Julian Hemley (26 October 1954, Berkeley, California) is an American geophysicist, solid-state physicist, and physical chemist.
Hemley is especially notable for his work in the theoretical prediction[1] and experimental observation[2] of near room-temperature superconductivity in lanthanum decahydride under high pressure.
[3] In the academic year 1991–1992 he was a visiting scientist at the Johns Hopkins University and in 1996 and again in 1999 at the École normale supérieure de Lyon.
Hemley's research has been experimental (e.g. high-pressure studies with spectroscopic methods and generating high pressures with laser-heated diamond anvil cell) and theoretical; he used theory to develop high-pressure experimental methods in conjunction with microscopic laser-optical and X-ray diffraction analysis in situ from synchrotron radiation sources.
Hemley, Mao, and Bell investigated not only minerals under pressures corresponding to those in the Earth's interior but also gases and liquids under pressures believed to exist in the interiors of gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn.