David James Thouless (; 21 September 1934 – 6 April 2019
) was a British condensed-matter 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 awarded the 1990 Wolf Prize
The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for "achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...
and a laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize for physics along with F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz for theoretical discoveries of topological phase
In physics, topological order describes a state or phase of matter that arises system with non-local interactions, such as entanglement in quantum mechanics, and floppy modes in elastic systems. Whereas classical phases of matter such as gases an ...
transitions and topological phases of matter.
Education
Born on 21 September 1934 in Bearsden
Bearsden ( ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the Glasgow city centre, city centre.
The Roman Empire, Roman Antonine Wall runs through the town, and the remains of ...
, Scotland to English parents, Priscilla (Gorton) Thouless, an English teacher, and Robert Thouless a psychologist and broadcaster. David Thouless was educated at St Faith's School
St Faith's School is a private preparatory day school on Trumpington Road, Cambridge, England, for girls and boys aged four to thirteen. The headmaster is Crispin Hyde-Dunn. The school has more than five hundred children. St Faith's is part of ...
then Winchester College
Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...
and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences
Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...
from the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
as an undergraduate student of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...
.[ He obtained his PhD at ]Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, where Hans Bethe
Hans Albrecht Eduard Bethe (; ; July 2, 1906 – March 6, 2005) was a German-American physicist who made major contributions to nuclear physics, astrophysics, quantum electrodynamics and solid-state physics, and received the Nobel Prize in Physi ...
was his doctoral advisor.[
]
Career and research
Thouless was 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 ...
at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a federally funded research and development center in the hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established in 1931 by the University of California (UC), the laboratory is spo ...
, University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, and also worked in the physics department from 1958 to 1959, giving a course on atomic physics. He was the first director of studies in physics at Churchill College
Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...
, Cambridge, in 1961–1965, professor of mathematical physics at the University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
in the United Kingdom in 1965–1978, and professor of applied science at Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
from 1979 to 1980, before becoming a professor of physics at the University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
in Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
in 1980. Thouless made many theoretical contributions to the understanding of extended systems of atoms and electrons, and of nucleons.[ He also worked on ]superconductivity
Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where Electrical resistance and conductance, electrical resistance vanishes and Magnetic field, magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ord ...
phenomena, properties of nuclear matter, and excited collective motions within nuclei.[
Thouless made many important contributions to the theory of ]many-body problem
The many-body problem is a general name for a vast category of physical problems pertaining to the properties of microscopic systems made of many interacting particles. Terminology
''Microscopic'' here implies that quantum mechanics has to be ...
s. For atomic nuclei
The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. Aft ...
, he cleared up the concept of 'rearrangement energy' and derived an expression for the moment of inertia
The moment of inertia, otherwise known as the mass moment of inertia, angular/rotational mass, second moment of mass, or most accurately, rotational inertia, of a rigid body is defined relatively to a rotational axis. It is the ratio between ...
of deformed nuclei.[ In ]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 ...
, he contributed many ideas to the understanding of ordering, including the concept of ' topological ordering'.[ Other important results relate to localised ]electron states
The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up and down quarks.
...
in disordered lattices.[
]
Academic papers
Selected papers include:
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*
Books
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Awards and honours
Thouless was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1979,[ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
] a Fellow of the American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...
(1986), a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
, and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, 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 ...
(1995). Among his awards are the Wolf Prize
The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for "achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...
for Physics (1990),[David J. Thouless Winner of Wolf Prize in Physics – 1990]
on the official website of Wolf Foundation the Paul Dirac Medal of the Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application.
It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...
(1993), the Lars Onsager Prize
The Lars Onsager Prize is a prize in theoretical statistical physics awarded annually by the American Physical Society. Prize recipients receive a medal, certificate, and $10,000. It was established in 1993 by Drs. Russell and Marian Donnelly in m ...
of the American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...
(2000), and the Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...
(2016).
Personal life
Thouless married Margaret Elizabeth Scrase in 1958 and together they had three children.[ In 2016, Thouless was reported to be suffering from ]dementia
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
. He died on 6 April 2019 in Cambridge, aged 84.
See also
*Hofstadter's butterfly
In condensed matter physics, Hofstadter's butterfly is a graph of the spectral properties of non-interacting two-dimensional electrons in a perpendicular magnetic field in a Crystal structure, lattice. The fractal, self-similarity, self-similar na ...
*Single-electron transistor
A single-electron transistor (SET) is a sensitive electronic device based on the Coulomb blockade effect. In this device the electrons flow through a tunnel junction between source/drain to a quantum dot (conductive island). Moreover, the electric ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thouless, David James
1934 births
2019 deaths
People educated at Winchester College
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge
Cornell University alumni
Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge
Alumni of Clare Hall, Cambridge
People from Bearsden
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
21st-century American physicists
American nuclear physicists
University of Washington faculty
Wolf Prize in Physics laureates
Fellows of the Royal Society
Maxwell Medal and Prize recipients
Academics of the University of Birmingham
British emigrants to the United States
Nobel laureates in Physics
American Nobel laureates
British Nobel laureates
Scottish Nobel laureates
Fellows of the American Physical Society