Leo Kadanoff | |
|---|---|
 Leo P. Kadanoff | |
| Born | (1937-01-14)January 14, 1937 New York City, New York |
| Died | October 26, 2015(2015-10-26) (aged 78) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Harvard University (BS,PhD) |
| Known for | Renormalization group theory ofphase transitions Application ofoperator algebras instatistical mechanics Universality Baym–Kadanoff functional |
| Awards | Wolf Prize in Physics(1980) Elliott Cresson Medal(1986) Lars Onsager Prize(1998) Lorentz Medal(2006) Isaac Newton Medal(2011)[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Institutions | University of Chicago |
| Doctoral advisor | Paul Martin |
| Doctoral students | |
Leo Philip Kadanoff (January 14, 1937 – October 26, 2015) was an Americanphysicist.[2] He was a professor of physics (emeritus from 2004)[3] at theUniversity of Chicago and a former president of theAmerican Physical Society (APS).[4] He contributed to the fields ofstatistical physics,chaos theory, and theoreticalcondensed matter physics.
Kadanoff was raised inNew York City. He received his undergraduate degree and doctorate[5] in physics (1960) fromHarvard University. After a post-doctorate at theNiels Bohr Institute inCopenhagen, he joined the physics faculty at theUniversity of Illinois in 1965.
Kadanoff's early research focused uponsuperconductivity. In the late 1960s, he studied the organization of matter inphase transitions. Kadanoff demonstrated that sudden changes in material properties (such as the magnetization of a magnet or the boiling of a fluid) could be understood in terms of scaling and universality. With his collaborators, he showed how all the experimental data then available for the changes, calledsecond-order phase transitions, could be understood in terms of these two ideas. These same ideas have now been extended to apply to a broad range of scientific and engineering problems, and have found numerous and important applications in urban planning, computer science, hydrodynamics, biology, applied mathematics and geophysics. In recognition of these achievements, he won theBuckley Prize of the American Physical Society (1977), theWolf Prize in Physics (1980), the 1989Boltzmann Medal of theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and the 2006Lorentz Medal.
In 1969 he moved toBrown University. He exploited mathematical analogies between solid state physics and urban growth to shed insights into the latter field, so much so that he contributed substantially to the statewide planning program in Rhode Island. In 1978 he moved to theUniversity of Chicago, where he became the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor of Physics and Mathematics. Much of his work in the second half of his career involved contributions to chaos theory, in both mechanical and fluid systems. He was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1982.[6]
He was one of the recipients of the 1999National Medal of Science, awarded byPresident Clinton. He was a member of theNational Academy of Sciences[7] and of theAmerican Philosophical Society[8] as well as being a Fellow of theAmerican Physical Society and of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science. During the last decade, he has received theQuantrell Award (for excellence in teaching) from the University of Chicago, theCentennial Medal of Harvard University, theLars Onsager Prize of theAmerican Physical Society, and theGrande Medaille d'Or of theAcadémie des sciences de l'Institut de France.
His textbook withGordon Baym,Quantum Statistical Mechanics (ISBN 020141046X), is a prominent text in the field and has been widely translated.
WithLeo Irakliotis, Kadanoff established theCenter for Presentation of Science at the University of Chicago.
In June 2013, it was stated that anonymous donors had provided a $3.5 million gift to establish theLeo Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics at the University of Chicago.[9] He died after complications from an illness on October 26, 2015.[10] In 2018 the American Physical Society established theLeo P. Kadanoff Prize in his honor.
