Neil William Ashcroft (27 November 1938 – 15 March 2021) was a British solid-state

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 ...

Early life and education

Ashcroft was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 27 November 1938, and migrated to New Zealand in 1947. He was educated at Hutt Valley High School, and completed his undergraduate studies at Victoria University College, earning a Bachelor of Science degree, in 1958. He received his

PhD 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 ...

in 1964 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 ...

for research investigating the

Fermi surface In condensed matter physics, the Fermi surface is the surface in reciprocal space which separates occupied electron states from unoccupied electron states at zero temperature. The shape of the Fermi surface is derived from the periodicity and sym ...

s of metals.

Career

Following his PhD, Ashcroft completed

postdoctoral research 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 the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and 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 he became a Professor in 1975. In 1990 he was named the Horace White Professor of Physics, and was elected to emeritus status in 2006. He served as the director for the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics at Cornell University (1979–1984), the director for the Cornell Center for Materials Research (1997–2000), and as the deputy director for the High Energy Synchrotron Source (1990–1997). Between 1986 and 1987, he served as the head of the Condensed Matter division 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 ...

. His textbook on solid-state physics, written with N. David Mermin, is a standard text in the field. Ashcroft died in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

, on 15 March 2021.

Awards and honours

In 1997, Ashcroft was elected to the U.S.

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 ...

. In 2003, he was awarded the Bridgman Award for his contributions to high-pressure physics. Since that date, he was therefore an honorary member of the AIRAPT.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashcroft, Neil 1938 births British physicists Alumni of the University of Cambridge Cornell University faculty Cornell Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics 2021 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Victoria University of Wellington alumni Scientists from London Fellows of the American Physical Society University of Chicago staff British expatriates in the United States English emigrants to New Zealand People educated at Hutt Valley High School