Charles Kittel (July 18, 1916 – May 15, 2019) was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

from 1951 and was professor

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

from 1978 until his death.

Life and work

Charles Kittel was born in New York City in 1916. He studied at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, where he obtained his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) in 1938. He published his

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

, under

Gregory Breit Gregory Breit (russian: Григорий Альфредович Брейт-Шнайдер, ''Grigory Alfredovich Breit-Shneider''; July 14, 1899, Mykolaiv, Kherson Governorate – September 13, 1981, Salem, Oregon) was a Russian-born Jewish ...

, in 1941 at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

and joined the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

(MIT) between 1945 and 1947. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he joined the Submarine Operations Research Group (SORG). (He is mentioned on page 478 of RV Jones' book Most Secret War, published 1978.) He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a naval attache. From 1947 to 1951, he worked for

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, USA, especially on

ferromagnetism Ferromagnetism is a property of certain materials (such as iron) which results in a large observed magnetic permeability, and in many cases a large magnetic coercivity allowing the material to form a permanent magnet. Ferromagnetic materials ...

. From 1951 to 1978, he worked at the

, where he taught and did research in the field of theoretical

solid-state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how th ...

, a part of

condensed-matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the su ...

. He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

in 1945, 1956 and 1963. Many well-known postdoctoral fellows worked with him, including James C. Phillips and

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (; 24 October 1932 – 18 May 2007) was a French physicist and the Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 1991. Education and early life He was born in Paris, France, and was home-schooled to the age of 12. By the age of ...

. Among other achievements, Kittel is credited with the theoretical discovery of the

RKKY interaction RKKY stands for ''Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida.'' It refers to a coupling mechanism of nuclear magnetic moments or localized inner d- or f-shell electron spins in a metal by means of an interaction through the conduction electrons. The RKK ...

(the first K standing for Kittel) and the Kittel magnon mode in ferromagnets. Physics students worldwide study his classic text ''

Introduction to Solid State Physics ''Introduction to Solid State Physics'', known colloquially as ''Kittel'', is a classic condensed matter physics textbook written by American physicist Charles Kittel in 1953. The book has been highly influential and has seen widespread adoptio ...

'', now in its 8th edition. He was a member of the

U.S. National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

, elected in 1957. Kittel died on May 15, 2019, at the age of 102.

Awards

* Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize, 1957 *Berkeley Distinguished Teacher Award, 1970 * Oersted Medal, American Association of Physics Teachers, 1979

Works

*''

'', 1st ed. 1953 - 8th ed. 2005, *''Quantum Theory of Solids'', 1963, and (with C. Y. Fong) 1987, *''Thermal Physics'', 2nd ed. 1980, , and (with H. Kroemer) 1980. *'' Berkeley Physics Course. Mechanics. Vol. 1'', with Walter Knight and Malvin A. Ruderman * Reprinted five times by 1967; a reproduction was published in 2004 by Dover ().

References

External links

*
Freeman Dyson on work at Berkeley with Charles Kittel
(Physics History Network) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kittel, Charles 1916 births 2019 deaths 21st-century American physicists University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge American centenarians Men centenarians American materials scientists Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Military personnel from New York City Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners Quantum physicists Scientists from New York City Semiconductor physicists University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society American expatriates in the United Kingdom

Life and work

Awards

Works

See also

References

External links