Sam Edwards (physicist)
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | University of Cambridge |
Thesis | A new approach to the theory of renormalised fields (1954) |
Doctoral advisor | Julian Schwinger |
Doctoral students | Elliott H. Lieb Monica Olvera de la Cruz Michael Cates Nigel Goldenfeld Tanniemola Liverpool |
Sir Samuel Frederick Edwards
The
Early life and studies
Edwards was born on 1 February 1928 in Swansea, Wales, the son of Richard and Mary Jane Edwards. He was educated at the Bishop Gore School, Swansea, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, the University of Manchester, and at Harvard University, in the United States.[2] He wrote his thesis under Julian Schwinger on the structure of the electron, and subsequently developed the functional integral form of field theory.
Academic research
Edwards's work in condensed matter physics started in 1958 with a paper[pubs 1] which showed that statistical properties of disordered systems (glasses, gels etc.) could be described by the Feynman diagram and path integral methods invented in quantum field theory. During the following 35 years Edwards worked in the theoretical study of complex materials, such as polymers, gels, colloids and similar systems. His seminal paper[pubs 2] came in 1965 which "in one stroke founded the modern quantitative understanding of polymer matter."[1] Pierre-Gilles de Gennes notably extended Edwards's 1965 seminal work, ultimately leading to de Gennes's 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics.[1]
Edwards invented what is known as the
The Doi-Edwards theory of polymer melt viscoelasticity originated from an initial publication of Edwards in 1967,[pubs 3] was expanded upon by de Gennes in 1971, and was subsequently formalized through a series of publications between Edwards and Masao Doi in the late 1970s.[1]
Administrative activities and professional recognition
He was Chairman of the Science Research Council 1973-1977 and between 1984 and 1995 was
Edwards was knighted in 1975. Awards presented to him include the
Personal life
In 1953 Edwards married Merriell E.M. Bland, with whom he had three daughters and a son. His relaxations were gardening and chamber music. Edwards died in Cambridge on 7 May 2015.[1][7]
Publications
- doi:10.1080/14786435808243244. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 September 2007.
- .
- .
References
- ^ PMID 26699498.
- ^ a b Donald, Athene (12 May 2015). "The birth of soft matter physics, the physics of the everyday". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Sam Edwards Medal and Prize". Institute of Physics. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ Sam Edwards (1971), Statistical mechanics of rubber. In Polymer networks: structural and mechanical properties, (eds A. J. Chompff & S. Newman). New York: Plenum Press, ISBN 978-1-4757-6210-5.
- ISSN 0080-4606.
- ^ Samuel Edwards: Boltzmann Medallist 1995, IUPAP Commission on Statistical Physics, archived from the original on 17 October 2013, retrieved 20 February 2013
- ^ "Obituary Notice". No. 6388. Cambridge University Reporter. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
Further reading
- Paul M. Goldbart and )
- Sherwood, Martin (22 November 1973). "A man for difficult problems". New Scientist. 60 (873): 538–9. Retrieved 11 July 2016 – via Google Books.
Professor Sam Edwards, who recently became chairman of the Science Research Council, describes himself as someone who has always had a taste for difficult problems. Recently, he talked to Martin Sherwood about some of the problems he has tackled in chemistry and physics, and some of those he will now have to tackle as a full-time administrator.
External links
- Media related to Sam Edwards (physicist) at Wikimedia Commons