Pierre Hohenberg

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Pierre C. Hohenberg , in full Pierre Claude Hohenberg (born October 3, 1934 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ; † December 15, 2017 ) was an American theoretical physicist who mainly worked in the field of statistical mechanics .

Career

Hohenberg studied at Harvard , where he received his bachelor's degree in 1956 and (after a stay at the École normal supérieure in 1956/57 ) his master's degree in 1958 and his doctorate in 1962. He then worked at the Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow and at the École normal supérieure in Paris in 1962/3 . From 1964 to 1995 he was at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, from 1985 to 1989 head of the department for theoretical physics there and from 1989 to 1995 "Distinguished Member of Technical Staff".

At the same time he was professor for theoretical physics at the Technical University of Munich from 1974 to 1977 , where he was visiting professor from 1972/3. Hohenberg was also visiting professor in Paris in 1983/4 and 1988 and as Lorentz professor in Leiden in 1990/1991 . From 1995 to 2003 he was " Deputy Provost of Science and Technology " at Yale University and then until 2004 " Eugene Higgins Adjunct Professor of Physics and Applied Physics ". In 2004 he went as a Senior Vice Provost of Research at the New York University and from 2009 he was a professor and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Policies .

Hohenberg was also politically active: in 1983 he was chairman of the APS committee for the freedom of scientists and in 1992/3 in an APS committee to support scientists in the former Soviet Union; From 1984 to 1996 he served on the Human Rights Committee of the New York Academy of Sciences . He was active in the Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS): in 1990 he founded the Program for Refugee Scientists of the CCS together with Joseph Birman and was on the advisory board of the CCS until his death.

Hohenberg was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , the National Academy of Sciences (from 1989), the American Philosophical Society (from 2014) and the New York Academy of Sciences. In 1990 he received the Fritz London Memorial Prize , in 1999 the Max Planck Medal and in 2003 the Lars Onsager Prize of the APS.

Hohenberg formulated the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem with Walter Kohn in 1964 in the course of their work on density functional theory . He was best known for his investigations into the theory of dynamic (i.e. time-varying) critical phenomena near phase transitions in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked with Bertrand Halperin and Ernest Ma in applying the method of the renormalization group. He also worked on hydrodynamic instabilities (with JB Swift) and pattern formation in non-equilibrium systems. Independently of Mermin and Wagner , in 1967 he proved the impossibility of spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetries in one and two dimensions.

literature

  • P. Hohenberg, Walter Kohn : Inhomogeneous Electron Gas . Phys. Rev. 136 (1964) B864-B871
  • BI Halperin and PC Hohenberg: Generalization of scaling laws to dynamical properties of a system near its critical point , Physical Review Letters 19, 1967, p. 700, doi : 10.1103 / PhysRevLett.19.700
  • BI Halperin and PC Hohenberg: Scaling laws for dynamical critical phenomena , Physical Review Vol. 177, 1969, p. 952, doi : 10.1103 / PhysRev.177.952
  • BI Halperin, PC Hohenberg, Shang-keng Ma: Calculation of dynamical critical properties using Wilsons expansion methods , Physical Review Letters Vol. 29, 1972, p. 1548, doi : 10.1103 / PhysRevLett. 29.1548
  • J. Swift, PC Hohenberg: Hydrodynamic Fluctuations at the convective instability , Physical Review, A, Vol. 15, 1977, p. 319, doi : 10.1103 / PhysRevA.15.319
  • PC Hohenberg: Existence of long range order in one and two dimensions , Physical Review Vol. 158, 1967, p. 383, doi : 10.1103 / PhysRev.158.383
  • PC Hohenberg: Dynamical theory of critical phenomena , in EGD Cohen (Ed.) "Statistical mechanics at the turn of the decade", Dekker, New York 1971
  • PC Hohenberg, BI Halperin: Theory of dynamical critical phenomena , Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 49, 1977, pp. 435-479, doi : 10.1103 / RevModPhys.49.435
  • MC Cross, PC Hohenberg: Pattern formation out of equilibrium , Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 65, 1993, pp. 851-1112, doi : 10.1103 / RevModPhys.65.851

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Pierre C. Hohenberg. National Academy of Sciences, accessed December 24, 2017 .
  2. Yale Officers: Provosts. yale.edu, accessed October 31, 2018 .
  3. ^ Tom Sullivan: Hohenberg moves to NYU. yale.edu, April 15, 2004, accessed October 31, 2018 .
  4. ^ NYU Appoints Pierre Hohenberg As Head of Research. nyu.edu, April 13, 2004, accessed October 31, 2018 .
  5. ^ Report to the President: University Senate Meeting. (pdf) nyu.edu, October 1, 2009, accessed on October 31, 2018 (English, p. 28).
  6. ^ Anita Gates: Joseph L. Birman, Physicist Who Aided Dissident Scientists, Dies at 89. In: New York Times. October 13, 2016, accessed October 31, 2018 .
  7. CCS Advisory Committee Member, Dr. Pierre Hohenberg, Passes. January 7, 2018, accessed October 31, 2018 .