Samuel Edwards
Sir Samuel Frederick Edwards (born February 1, 1928 in Swansea , Wales , † May 7, 2015 in Cambridge , England ) was a British physicist .
Life
Samuel Edwards was born to Richard and Mary Jane Edwards. He attended Grammar School in Swansea and then studied at Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge . After completing his master's degree , he moved to Harvard University , where Julian Seymour Schwinger supervised his doctoral thesis. As a postdoctoral fellow he worked at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton from 1952 before returning to the United Kingdom. He conducted research at the University of Birmingham (1953–58) with Rudolf Peierls , then at the University of Manchester (1958–72), where he became professor of theoretical physics in 1963 . In 1972 he moved to his home university in Cambridge as John Humphrey Plummer Professor and taught physics as a Cavendish Professor from 1984 until his retirement in 1995. He was also Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge University from 1992 to 1995.
Edwards worked in the field of condensed matter , especially polymer physics , spin glasses and granular matter . In 1958 he introduced methods of quantum field theory to statistical physics . He examined systems with frozen disorder ( English quenched disorder ). Together with Philip Warren Anderson , he proposed the replica trick in 1975 and worked on spin glasses, then with RT Deam on rubber elasticity, with DR Wilkinson on granular matter, and with RBS Oakeshott on powder. With Masao Doi, he set up the tube model for the mobility of polymers. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics for expanding this model, among other things .
In 1953 he married Merriell EM Bland, with whom he had a son and three daughters.
Publications
- More than 250 papers in scientific journals
- With Meinolf Dierkes and Rob Coppock: Technological Risk . Oelgeschlager, Gunn and Hain, Cambridge / Mass. 1980, ISBN 0-89946-059-3 (= Publication of the Science Center Berlin, Vol. 23)
- With Masao Doi: The Theory of Polymer Dynamics . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1986, ISBN 0-19-851976-1 , 6th edition 2001, ISBN 0-19-852033-6 (= International series of monographs on physics, Volume 73)
- With Shaul M. Aharoni: Rigid polymer networks . Springer, Berlin [a. a.] 1994, ISBN 3-540-58340-8 , (= Advances in polymer science, volume 118)
Awards and honors
- 1974 Maxwell Medal (Institute of Physics)
- Knighted in 1975
- 1982 Ford High Polymer Physics Prize (American Physical Society)
- 1984 Davy Medal ( Royal Society )
- 1986 Gold medal (Institute of Mathematics)
- 1987 Guthrie medal (Institute of Physics)
- 1990 Gold Medal (British Society of Rheology)
- 1993 Louis Vaillon Moët Hennessy (Science pour l 'Art)
- 1995 Boltzmann Medal ( International Union for Pure and Applied Physics )
- 2001 Founders Polymer Prize (Institute of Physics)
- 2001 Royal Medal (Royal Society)
- 2005 Dirac Medal (ICTP) ( International Center for Theoretical Physics )
- Honorary doctorates: 1975 Loughborough , 1976 Salford , 1976 Edinburgh , 1978 Bath , 1986 Birmingham , 1986 Strasbourg , 1987 Wales , 1989 Sheffield , 1991 Dublin , 1994 Leeds , 1994 Swansea, 1995 East Anglia , 2001 Cambridge , 2002 Mainz , 2006 Tel Aviv
Memberships
- 1966 Royal Society
- Institute of Physics
- Royal Society Chemistry
- Institute of Mathematics
- American Physical Society
- British Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1989 Académie des Sciences
- 1996 National Academy of Sciences
- 1996 European Physical Society
- 1997 Société française de physique
- 2006 Russian Academy of Sciences
- Athenaeum Club
literature
- Paul M. Goldbart, Nigel Goldenfeld and David C. Sherrington: Stealing the gold. A celebration of the pioneering physics of Sam Edwards . Clarendon Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-852853-1 (= International series of monographs on physics, no. 126)
- Who's Who in America, 2007, p. 1260, ISBN 0-8379-7006-7
- Who's Who, 2006, p. 670, ISBN 0-7136-7164-5
Web links
- Mark Warner: Sir Sam Edwards. February 1, 1928 - July 7, 2015 . In: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . tape 63 , December 2017, doi : 10.1098 / rsbm.2016.0028 (English).
- Malcolm Longair: Professor Sir Sam Edwards CBE FRS. Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, May 14, 2015 (English).
- Athene Donald: The birth of soft matter physics, the physics of the everyday. In: The Guardian. May 12, 2015 (English).
- Nigel Goldenfeld: Samuel Frederick Edwards: Founder of modern polymer and soft matter theory . In: Proc Natl Acad Sci USA . tape 113 , no. 1 , 2016, p. 10–11 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1523001113 , PMC 4711878 (free full text) - (English).
- Samuel F. Edwards in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ In Memoriam. Sir Samuel Frederick Edwards FRS, 1928-2015
- ^ A Nonperturbative Approach to Quantum Electrodynamics . In: Physical Review . Volume 90, 1953, p. 284
- ^ A new method for the evaluation of electric conductivity in metals . In: Philosophical Magazine . 1958, Volume 3, pp. 1020-1031
- ↑ with PW Anderson: Theory of spin glasses . In: J. Phys. Q: Met. Phys . Volume 5, pp. 965-974
- ↑ with RT Deam: The theory of rubber elasticity . In: Philosophical Transactions for the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences . Volume 280, Issue 1296, 1976, pp. 317-353
- ↑ with DR Wilkinson: The surface statistics of a granular aggregate . In: Proceedings of The Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences . Volume 381, Issue 1780, pp. 17-31
- ↑ with RBS Oakeshott: Theory of powders . In: Physica A . Volume 157, Issue 3, pp. 1080-1090.
- ↑ CURRICULUM VITAE. (PDF) 2008, accessed November 20, 2018 .
- ^ List of Publications Sam F. Edwards. (PDF) 2008, accessed November 20, 2018 .
- ^ Edouard Brezin: Justification for the award of the Boltzmann Medal. 1995, accessed November 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Honorary Doctor of Philosophy 2006. tau.ac.il, accessed on November 20, 2018 (English).
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Edwards, Samuel |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Edwards, Samuel Frederick (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British physicist |
DATE OF BIRTH | February 1, 1928 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Swansea , Wales |
DATE OF DEATH | May 7, 2015 |
Place of death | Cambridge |