• Theoretical Condensed-Matter Physics
• Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics
• Astrophysics and General Relativity
• Experimental Elementary Particle Physics
• Accelerator Physics
• Experimental Condensed-Matter Physics
• Biological Physics
• Multidisciplinary Research
• Major Research Facilities
• Resources for Researchers

B.S., S.M., 1956, Mechanical Engineering Honors Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ph.D., 1960, Theoretical Physics, Carnegie Institute of Technology. Ford Foundation Research Associate, Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1960-62. Assistant Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 1962-64; Associate Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 1964-68; Director, Research Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland, 1969-1971; Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 1968-present. Visiting appointments at: Bell Laboratories, North American-Rockwell Science Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, IBM Watson Research Center, Institute of Theoretical Physics, UCSB; College de France; University of Karlsruhe; NORDITA, Copenhagen; University of Florida; All Souls College, Oxford; Bohr Institute, Copenhagen. Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1965-1967; Medal of the University of Helsinki, 1971; Fellow, American Physical Society, 1979; J. S. Guggenheim Fellow, 1983-84; Medal of the College de France, 1986; Humboldt Foundation Senior U. S. Scientist, 1986, 1990; Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, 2007.

Research Areas
Condensed matter and low temperature physics, going back to the 1963 calculation of the temperature dependence of the Josephson effect, and the 1964 calculation of the effect of strong electron-phonon coupling on the thermal conductivity of superconducting lead. Destruction of superconductivity by disorder in homogeneous films and wires, low temperature conductivity of metallic films, transport of electrons through quantum dots.

Current Research

My general interests are in the area of low temperature and condensed matter physics. Current work focuses on some aspects of disordered metallic conductors, on quantum information and its loss through “decoherence,' and on mathematical ways of describing these phenomena.

I retired in July 2007, and am supervising no more Ph.D. theses.

Retirement Symposium

Out of my other interests:

Landau Memorial Talk

Lecture: A Physicist's Reflections, Reminiscences, and Ramblings on the Theme: Memory and Creativity

Unedited typescript (98K .pdf)
Scan of original printed article (1.95MB .pdf)
[open in Acrobat Reader, and enlarge to either 50% or 100% for best resolution]

Book: Reasoning About Luck: probability and its uses in physics
Errata | Selected Letters | Selected Reviews

Book Review: "True genius: the life and science of John Bardeen, by Hoddeson and Daitch"
from Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 35 (2004) 120-138

Scan of book review (781K.pdf)
 

Spotlight

Yan-Jiun Chen is a graduate student working with Professor Jim Sethna studying non-equilibrium statistical physics, in particular, the scaling properties of crackling noise in magnets.  As a magnet is magnetized, magnetic spins flip in avalanches of all different sizes, this is called the Barkhausen effect (or crackling noise). The properties of these avalanches exhibit self-similarity, and can be studied using powerful theoretical tools in the form of the renormalization group (RG).  This means that studying these avalanches can tell us ...
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