Brian Pippard

Sir Alfred Brian Pippard (born September 7, 1920 in Earls Court , London , † September 21, 2008 in Cambridge ) was a British physicist.

life and work

Pippard studied at Clifton College in Bristol . The supervisor of his doctorate was David Shoenberg . From 1971 to 1984 he was Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory and Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge University , of which he was the first President.

Pippard was an eminent solid-state physicist and low-temperature physicist . He introduced the concept of coherence length in superconductors by formulating the London equations non-locally (London-Pippard theory). This coherence length can be substantiated microscopically within the framework of the BCS theory . He proved the existence of the Fermi surface in metals by measuring the reflection and absorption of microwaves on copper. Pippard was the author of various textbooks and monographs on thermodynamics , solid state physics, and mechanics .

He supervised the doctorate of Brian D. Josephson in 1964, who received the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his work . In 1970 Pippard was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Pippard was a talented classical pianist.

Works (selection)

1. ^ AB Pippard, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), A 216 , 547 (1953).
2. ^ AB Pippard, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A 250 , 325 (1957).

• Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics , Cambridge University Press, 1957, ISBN 0521091012
• The dynamics of Conduction Electrons , Documents on Modern Physics, Gordon & Beach, New York, 1965, ISBN 0677007256
• The Physics of Vibration , Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 0521033330
• Magnetoresistance in metals , Cambridge University Press, 1989, ISBN 0521118808 .

swell

• John Waldram: Brian Pippard (1920-2008): Low-temperature physicist who excelled in subtle intuitive concepts , Nature 455 , 1191 (October 30, 2008).

Web links

• The Cavendish Professorship in Physics , Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Department of Physics (in English).
• The Brian Pippard Building, Cambridge
• Brian Pippard in an interview with Alan Macfarlane on March 31, 2008 (film in English)