graduate

Statistical Physics and the Triumph of Models

TYPEDistinguished Lecture Series
Speaker:Michael E. Fisher
Affiliation:University of Maryland, U.S.A.
Dates:11.11 - 15.11.2004
Time:14:30
Location:
Abstract:

Michael E. Fisher is Distinguished University Professor and Regents Professor of the University of Maryland. He played a central role in the development of Statistical Mechanics and in particular of theory of Phase Transitions in the last forty years. The Renormalization Group, that provided an explanation of universality in critical phenomena, is one of the great achievements of theoretical physics. Professor Fisher received many awards including: The Wolf Prize in Physics (1980), The Guthrie Medal and Prize (1980), The Boltzmann Medal (1983)and The First Lars Onsager Memorial Prize (1995). He is member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). Simple models that explain the essential physics were central in the research of Professor Fisher and were the main subject of his lectures.