Benjamin Simons | |
---|---|
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Known for | Mesoscopic physics [1] |
Awards | Maxwell Medal and Prize (2001) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Condensed matter theory |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Cambridge |
Doctoral advisor | J. M. F. Gunn |
Benjamin David Simons is a British theoretical physicist, working in the field of theoretical condensed matter physics and in biophysics.
Simons holds the Herchel Smith Chair in Physics at the University of Cambridge Cavendish Laboratory, [1] and he is also a Group Leader in the Gurdon Institute. In 2013 he became head of the Theory of Condensed Matter (TCM) group in the Cavendish.
Simons has two brothers, Thomas and Joseph. His father is a professor at Oxford University, Professor John P. Simons. He is married and has two children.
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named after the British chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish. The laboratory has had a huge influence on research in the disciplines of physics and biology.
Yang Chen-Ning or Chen-Ning Yang, also known as C. N. Yang or by the English name Frank Yang, is a Chinese theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrable systems, gauge theory, and both particle physics and condensed matter physics. He and Tsung-Dao Lee received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on parity nonconservation of weak interaction. The two proposed that one of the basic quantum-mechanics laws, the conservation of parity, is violated in the so-called weak nuclear reactions, those nuclear processes that result in the emission of beta or alpha particles. Yang is also well known for his collaboration with Robert Mills in developing non-abelian gauge theory, widely known as the Yang–Mills theory.
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The Institute of Physics awards numerous prizes to acknowledge contributions to physics research, education and applications. It also offers smaller specific subject-group prizes, such as for PhD thesis submissions.