Mehran Kardar (; born August 1957) is an Iranian-American physicist and professor of physics at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT), and co-faculty at the

New England Complex Systems Institute The New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) is an independent American research institution and think tank dedicated to advancing analytics and its application to the challenges of society, and the interaction of complex systems with the en ...

(USA). He received his B.A. in physics 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 ...

in 1979, and obtained his Ph.D. from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in 1983. Kardar is particularly known for the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) equation 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 ...

, which has been named after him and his two coauthors: the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

laureate

Giorgio Parisi Giorgio Parisi (born 4 August 1948) is an Italian theoretical physicist, whose research has focused on quantum field theory, statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods ...

, and Yi-Cheng Zhang. He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 2001.

Awards

*1976–78 Exhibition – Senior Scholarship at King's College, Cambridge University *1978–79 Prizes based on performance in undergraduate (Tripos) exams *1981–82 IBM Predoctoral Fellowship *1983–86 Junior Fellowship, Harvard Society of Fellows *1987–91 A. P. Sloan Fellowship *1988 Fellow of Ashdown House (Graduate Dormitory), MIT *1988 Bergmann Memorial Research Award *1989

Presidential Young Investigator Award The Presidential Young Investigator Award (PYI) was awarded by the National Science Foundation of the United States Federal Government. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator (NYI) Awards and Preside ...

*1990 Graduate Student Departmental Teaching Award *1990–92 MIT Class of 1948 Professor (Career Development Chair) *1991 Edgerton Award for Junior Faculty Achievements at MIT *1992 The Beuchner Teaching Prize, Physics Department *1993 School of Science Prize in Graduate Teaching *2001 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship *2007 Fellow, American Physical Society *2008 School of Science Prize in Graduate Teaching *2009 APS Outstanding Referee *2009 Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences *2011 Francis Freidman Professor, Physics Department, MIT *2018 Elected member of the

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 ...

*2020 Simons Fellow in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics *2025 the IUPAP Boltzmann Medal

Courses at MIT OpenCourseWare

His following courses are currently available on MIT OCW.
Statistical Physics in BiologyStatistical Mechanics I: Statistical Mechanics of Particles

Bibliography

Books

*'' Statistical Physics of Fields.'' University of Cambridge Press, 2007. , *'' Statistical Physics of Particles.'' University of Cambridge Press, 2007. , and of about 200 scientific papersMehran Kardar's Publications
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References

External links

His homepage on the MIT website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kardar, Mehran 1957 births 20th-century Iranian physicists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Iranian emigrants to the United States Harvard Fellows Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Living people Iranian expatriate academics in the United States New England Complex Systems Institute Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society