David Mermin

N. David Mermin ( born March 30, 1935 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American theoretical physicist. He is an emeritus professor at Cornell University. His main areas are statistical physics, low temperature physics, solid state physics and the foundations of quantum mechanics.

Life

Mermin studied at Harvard University. In 1956, he received his bachelors degree in Mathematics, 1961, he received his doctorate in physics. He worked at the University of Birmingham and the University of California, San Diego. In 1964 he became an Assistant Professor at Cornell University, 1967 Associate Professor and Full Professor in 1972. Between 1984 and 1990 he was head of the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics. In 2006 he became Professor Emeritus.

Work

Mermins first studies dealt with the statistical physics, named after him and Herbert Wagner is there, the Mermin -Wagner theorem. In the low- temperature physics, he worked on the Fermi liquid and superfluid helium-3. In solid-state physics, the Mermin - Lindhard constant goes back to his work, as a generalization of the Hohenberg -Kohn theorem.

Later he worked on basic questions of quantum theory, such as those initiated by John Stewart Bell. He dealt with the Bell 's inequalities, cooking - Specker theorem and the EPR effect. In addition, he also contributed to the theoretical crystallography in terms of aperiodic crystals and is interested in quantum computers.

Mermin wrote important textbooks, including the standard work of Solid State Physics by Neil Ashcroft. He is also known by his long-time column in the magazine Physics Today. He also participates in work and discussions of philosophy of science and sociological studies of academic life.

Honors

Mermin is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was Sloan Fellow ( 1966-1970 ) and the Guggenheim Fellow (1970 /71). The prices obtained from him the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize of the APS, the Klopsteg Memorial Award of the American Association of Physics Teachers, the Russell Distinguished Teaching Award from Cornell University and the Majoranapreis belong. He held many guest lectures at universities, about 2002, the Wolfgang -Paul- lecture in Bonn.