Martin Gutzwiller

Martin C. Gutzwiller
Martin C. Gutzwiller
	Complex Systems
Institutions	IBM, Columbia University, Yale University
Doctoral advisor	Max Dresden

Martin Charles Gutzwiller (12 October 1925 – 3 March 2014

complex systems. He spent most of his career at IBM Research, and was also an adjunct professor of physics at Yale University

.

Biography

Gutzwiller was born on October 12, 1925, in the

Paris-Orsay, and Stockholm. He was Vice Chair for the Committee on Mathematical Physics, of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, from 1987 to 1993. He joined Yale University as adjunct professor in 1993, retaining the position until his retirement.^[1]

Scientific work

Gutzwiller formulated the Gutzwiller approximation for describing electrons with strong local interactions in terms of the Gutzwiller wave function, composed of a simple many-electron wave function acted on by a correlation operator ("Gutzwiller projection"). He was also the first to investigate the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics in chaotic systems. In that context, he developed the Gutzwiller trace formula, the main result of periodic orbit theory, which gives a recipe for computing spectra from periodic orbits of a system. He is the author of the classic monograph on the subject, Chaos in Classical and Quantum Mechanics (1990).

Gutzwiller is also known for finding novel solutions to mathematical problems in field theory, wave propagation, crystal physics, and celestial mechanics. In appreciation of his contributions to theoretical physics, the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPIPKS) annually awards the Martin Gutzwiller Fellowship to acknowledge and promote exceptional research in this field.^[3]

Book collecting

Gutzwiller had an avid interest in the history of science. He eventually acquired a valuable collection of rare books on astronomy and mechanics. Shortly after his death, his collection was auctioned at Swann Galleries, in New York City. The auction took place on April 3, 2014, and raised a total of US$341,788.^[4]

Honors

Fellow of
National Academies of Science
in 1992
Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993 ^[1]
Fellow of American Physical Society
Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics in 1993 ^[5]
Max Planck medal
in 2003

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Array of Contemporary American Physicists". Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
^ Directory entry, National Academy of Sciences
^ "Martin Gutzwiller Fellowship". Retrieved 1 March 2012.
^ Auction Report Archived 2014-05-19 at the Wayback Machine, Americana Exchange
^ "1993 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Recipient". Retrieved 1 March 2012.

External links

Chaos in classical and quantum mechanics by Martin C. Gutzwiller 1990
Baeriswyl, Dionys; Berry, Michael; Vollhardt, Dieter (2014). "Martin Charles Gutzwiller" (PDF). Physics Today. 67 (6): 60.
doi:10.1063/PT.3.2426
.

M. V. Berry and D. Baeriswyl, "Martin C. Gutzwiller", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2016)

[acp-1] "Array of Contemporary American Physicists". Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2012.

[2] Directory entry, National Academy of Sciences

[3] "Martin Gutzwiller Fellowship". Retrieved 1 March 2012.

[4] Auction Report Archived 2014-05-19 at the Wayback Machine, Americana Exchange

[5] "1993 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Recipient". Retrieved 1 March 2012.

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