Ian Keith Affleck (July 2, 1952 – October 4, 2024) was a Canadian physicist specializing in

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 State of matter, phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and elec ...

. He was Killam University Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia.

Life and career

Ian Affleck was born in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

on July 2, 1952. He studied theoretical aspects of condensed matter physics, including high temperature superconductivity, low dimensional magnetism, quantum dots and quantum wires. Affleck made many important contributions to theoretical and mathematical physics. He began his career in high energy theory (HEP), and has successfully applied many techniques from HEP to condensed matter. In particular, he has applied conformal field theory techniques to low dimensional magnetism, Kondo effects and quantum impurity problems. In doing so, he enjoyed finding "mathematically elegant solutions" to problems. He was also a member of the CIFAR's Superconductivity Program and the Cosmology and Gravity Program. Affleck held numerous awards including the 2006 CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement and the 2014 DCMMP Brockhouse Medal. He was elected a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of fellows of the ...

in 2002 and a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 2010. Affleck died on October 4, 2024, at the age of 72.

References

1952 births 2024 deaths Scientists from Vancouver Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Science Sloan Research Fellows Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Canadian physicists Trent University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Canadian fellows of the Royal Society {{physicist-stub