Gottfried Jens Feder (31 January 1939 – 15 February 2019) was a Norwegian physicist. He was born in Munich, Germany but moved to live in Oslo in 1947. Following his graduation in physics, he received a NATO fellowship to study phase transitions and superconductors in Orsay, France (1965–66). He then joined IBM Zürich Research in Switzerland (1966–68) to study phase transitions in

perovskites A perovskite is a crystalline material of formula ABX3 with a crystal structure similar to that of Perovskite, the mineral perovskite, this latter consisting of calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3). The mineral was first discovered in the Ural Moun ...

. He was awarded a

dr.philos. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in 1970 by the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

where, and after spending two years as a lecturer, he was appointed professor of physics, only 35 years old. His research fields were broad and varied, including condensed matter physics, fluid dynamics, complex systems, and geophysics. He cooperated closely with physicist Torstein Jøssang, but also with colleagues worldwide. He spent sabbaticals at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York (1972–73), at

General Electric Research Laboratory General Electric Research Laboratory was the first industrial research facility in the United States. Established in 1900, the lab was home to the early technological breakthroughs of General Electric and created a research and development environ ...

in Schenectady, New York (1978–79), as the Williams Otis Crosby lecturer of Geology at MIT (1997), at the

Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an international research institute for mathematics and its applications at the University of Cambridge. It is named after one of the university's most illustrious figures, the mathematician ...

in Cambridge, UK, and at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

(1999). His book ''Fractals'' (Plenum, 1988) was translated into several languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Russian. He was elected a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

in 1988 and 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 1989 ''"for contributions to theories and experiments on structural phase transitions and on fractals in aggregates and in porous media"''. He resided at

Slemdal Slemdal is a neighborhood in the borough of Vestre Aker in Oslo, Norway. The neighborhood lies south of Vettakollen, and was built up from the 1890s. It is served by the Oslo Metro station Slemdal. The local sports team is IL Heming Idrettsla ...

and was married with two children.

References

1939 births 2019 deaths Scientists from Munich University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian physicists Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Fellows of the American Physical Society {{Norway-academic-bio-stub