N. David Mermin

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N. David Mermin
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma materHarvard University
Known forAshcroft and Mermin
Hohenberg–Mermin–Wagner theorem
Mermin–Ho relation
Lindhard–Mermin dielectric function
Coining the term 'boojum'
Mermin–Peres magic square
Mermin's device
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysicist
InstitutionsCornell University
University of California, San Diego
University of Birmingham
Doctoral studentsSusan Coppersmith
Anupam Garg
Tin-Lun Ho
Daniel S. Rokhsar
Sandra Troian

Nathaniel David Mermin (/ˈmɜːrmɪn/; born 30 March 1935) is a solid-state physicist at Cornell University best known for the eponymous Hohenberg–Mermin–Wagner theorem, his application of the term "boojum" to superfluidity, his textbook with Neil Ashcroft on solid-state physics, and for contributions to the foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum information science.[2]

Education and career

Mermin was born in 1935 in New Haven, Connecticut. He obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University in 1956, graduating summa cum laude. He remained at Harvard for his graduate studies, earning a PhD in physics in 1961.[3] After holding postdoctoral positions at the University of Birmingham and the University of California, San Diego, he joined the Cornell University faculty in 1964.[3] He became a Cornell professor emeritus in 2006.

Early in his career, Mermin worked in

electron gases, the classification of quasicrystals, and quantum chemistry. His later research contributions included work in quantum information science and the foundations of quantum mechanics.[4]

Mermin was the first to note how the three-particle

interpretation of quantum mechanics known as Quantum Bayesianism, or QBism.[10]

In 2003, the journal Foundations of Physics published a bibliography of Mermin's writing that included three books, 125 technical articles, 18 pedagogical articles, 21 general articles, 34 book reviews, and 24 "Reference Frame" articles from Physics Today.[4]

Mermin was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1969,[11] and he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1991.[12] He was also elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2015.[3]

Word and phrase coinages

Inspired by Lewis Carroll's comic poem The Hunting of the Snark, Mermin introduced the term boojum into the vocabulary of condensed-matter physics.[13]

In his book It's About Time (2005), one of several expository pieces on

physical unit
is one of several ploys that Mermin uses to draw students into spacetime geometry. In the book, Mermin writes:

Henceforth, by 1 foot we shall mean the distance light travels in a nanosecond. A foot, if you will, is a light nanosecond (and a nanosecond, even more nicely, can be viewed as a light foot). ... If it offends you to redefine the foot ... then you may define 0.299792458 meters to be 1 phoot, and think "phoot" (conveniently evocative of the Greek φωτος, "light") whenever you read "foot".[14]

Though it is often misattributed to Richard Feynman, Mermin coined the phrase "shut up and calculate!" to characterize the views of many physicists regarding the

interpretation of quantum mechanics.[15]

Books

References

  1. arXiv:1710.05229 [physics.hist-ph
    ].
  2. ^ "Letters from the Past - A PRL Retrospective". Physical Review Letters. 2014-02-12. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
  3. ^ a b c Mermin, N. David (2018). "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Cornell University. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
  4. ^
    S2CID 189839377
    .
  5. S2CID 17416262
    . Mermin was the first to point out the interesting properties of this three-system state, following the lead of D. M. Greenberger, M. Horne, and A. Zeilinger, "Going beyond Bell's Theorem," in Bell's Theorem, Quantum Theory and Conceptions of the Universe, edited by M. Kafatos (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1989), p. 69, where a similar four-system state was proposed.
  6. S2CID 119911419
    .
  7. S2CID 119546199
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-7867-2242-6
    .
  9. PMID 10045931
    .
  10. S2CID 52299438
    .
  11. ^ "APS Fellows". American Physical Society. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
  12. ^ "N. David Mermin". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
  13. ^ Kwan, Alex (2005-09-15). "Boojums help turn physicist and pianist David Mermin into offbeat science writer". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  14. ^ It's About Time, page 22
  15. doi:10.1063/1.1768652
    .
  16. ^ Reviews and commentary:
  17. ^ Review of Boojums:
    • Rigden, John S. (1990). "Boojums All The Way Through: Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age".
      doi:10.1119/1.16234
      .
  18. ^ Reviews of It's About Time:
  19. ^ Reviews of Quantum Computer Science:
  20. ^ Review of Why Quark Rhymes with Pork:

Further reading

External links

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