Carsten Peterson (born in 1945), is a Swedish theoretical physicist and professor at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

. His current field of research is

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and Computer simulation, computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer sci ...

. After finishing his PhD studies in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

at Lund University in 1977, Peterson worked as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

NORDITA The Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, or NORDITA, or Nordita (), is an international organisation for research in theoretical physics. It was established as Nordisk Institut for Teoretisk Atomfysik in 1957 by Niels Bohr and the Swedish ...

in Copenhagen (1978-1979) and at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

(1980-1982) before returning to Lund. He has since then been active there, except for a sabbatical period (1986-1988) when he hold a Senior Scientist position at

Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, originally the Microelectronics and Computer Consortium and widely seen by the acronym MCC, was the first, and at one time one of the largest, computer industry research and development c ...

in Austin, Texas. Peterson is a professor in theoretical physics and was elected to the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

in 2006. Peterson's field of research was originally theoretical particle physics and

statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...

. In the mid 1980s he switched interests into machine learning methods, mostly

artificial neural networks In machine learning, a neural network (also artificial neural network or neural net, abbreviated ANN or NN) is a computational model inspired by the structure and functions of biological neural networks. A neural network consists of connected ...

(ANN), for pattern recognition and image processing as well as algorithms for difficult optimization problems. In particular, he mapped the latter onto spin systems in physics – a field that is now gaining attention when it comes to quantum computers. With regard to pattern recognition, he early on contributed with a learning algorithm for ANN, the mean field method to speed up the

Boltzmann machine A Boltzmann machine (also called Sherrington–Kirkpatrick model with external field or stochastic Ising model), named after Ludwig Boltzmann, is a spin glass, spin-glass model with an external field, i.e., a Spin glass#Sherrington–Kirkpatrick m ...

. His group in Lund were somewhat of pioneers when it came to clinical predictors using machine learning. Since the early 1990s he has mostly been active within the interface between physics and biology with focus on

biomarkers In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, p ...

for serious diseases as well as

gene regulation Regulation of gene expression, or gene regulation, includes a wide range of mechanisms that are used by cells to increase or decrease the production of specific gene products (protein or RNA). Sophisticated programs of gene expression are wide ...

– the latter often with a network perspective approached with mechanistic methods. His currently focused on how and when

stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

commit to become mature cells. Peterson is keen on whenever possible confronting his computational results with the real world and his activities are often performed imbedded within experimental groups. As his interests increasingly went beyond more conventional physics, he pioneered the formation of a Complex Systems division within theoretical physics at Lund University (1989), which later evolved into computational biology (2000).

References

1945 births Living people Swedish physicists Academic staff of Lund University {{Sweden-scientist-stub