Michael F. Shlesinger (born August 8, 1948 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) is a

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 ...

notable for his work in the area of

nonlinear dynamics In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system (or a non-linear system) is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathem ...

. He is the co-founder of the journal ''

Fractals In mathematics, a fractal is a Shape, geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scale ...

.'' His pioneering work in statistical predictions and descriptions of random and deterministic processes has influenced the physics of amorphous solids and glasses, classical mechanics, and biophysics. He is known as a proponent of fractal time and is also known for his work on fractal stochastic processes related to areas such as disordered materials and turbulence.

Education

In 1970, Shlesinger obtained his BS degree in physics and mathematics from

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

, and obtained his MA in 1972 from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

. In 1975, he obtained his PhD from the

under

Elliott Waters Montroll Elliott Waters Montroll (May 4, 1916, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – December 3, 1983, in Chevy Chase, Maryland) was an American scientist and mathematician. Education Elliott Montroll was born on May 4, 1916, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and ...

for a thesis titled ''A Stochastic Theory of Anomalous Transient Photocurrents in Certain Xerographic Films and of the 1/f Noise in Neural Membrane.''

Career

Initially he worked at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

. In 1983, he joined

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

(ONR) and started their

program in 1984. He went on to head their physics division, before being named ONR's chief scientist for nonlinear science. His contributions to nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics include the publication of over 200 papers, editorship of over 20 books, and the organization of over 30 conferences. In 2008, he took up the Kinnear Chair in Physics at the

US Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

, United States. In 2021, he published ''An Unbounded Experience in Random Walks with Applications'' (World Scientific Pub).

Honors

Shlesinger was elected as 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 ...

in 1993. In 2004, he received the

Presidential Rank Award The Presidential Rank Awards program is an individual award program granted by the United States government to career Senior Executive Service (SES) members and Senior Career Employees within the OPM-allocated Senior-Level (SL) or Scientific-Profe ...

. In 2006, he received ONR's Saalfeld Award for outstanding lifetime achievement. In 2008, he was honored with a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

to mark his 60th birthday, entitled ''25 Years of Nonlinear Dynamics at ONR'', based on a conference held on

Amelia Island Amelia Island is a part of the Sea Islands chain that stretches along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida; it is the southernmost of the Sea Islands, and the northernmost of the barrier islands on Florida's Atlant ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, July 20–22, 2008.

Name

His middle name is the single initial "F"—he does not have a full middle name; another famous example of this is the middle initial of

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

Bibliography

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External links