Michael D. Towler

Last updated

Michael D. Towler (also referred to as Mike Towler, complete name Michael David Towler) is a theoretical physicist associated with the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge and formerly research associate at University College, London and College Lecturer at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He created and owns the Towler Institute in Vallico di Sotto in Tuscany, Italy.

Contents

Biography

Education, career and personal life

Towler obtained an undergraduate degree from Bristol University in 1991, as well as his Ph.D. in 1994.

From 1994 to 1996, he was research fellow at the University of Torino, Italy. From 1997 onwards, he has been closely associated with the Theory of Condensed Matter group (TCM) of Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory. Initially, until 2000, he was postdoctoral research associate, subsequently held a Lloyd's Fellowship, and from 2002 to 2010 he was Royal Society research fellow of the Cavendish Laboratory. Additionally, from 2002 to 2012 he was a College Lecturer at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. [1]

In October 2010, Towler became a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Earth Sciences, University College, London, [1] although he retained a desk in TCM until 2015. [2]

He is married to bronze sculptor and philosopher Samantha Keil. [3]

Work

Towler has been working on electronic structure theory and its application to the simulation of physical systems, including quantum Monte Carlo simulations, density functional theory and methods of quantum chemistry. He has worked on foundational issues in density functional theory and in quantum mechanics, in particular concerning the de Broglie–Bohm theory and the pilot wave formulation. [1]

Towler developed the Cavendish Laboratory's de Broglie–Bohm simulation software LOUIS [4] and is one of the principal authors of the Cambridge quantum Monte Carlo code CASINO. [5] Earlier, Towler had maintained a resources page for the electronic structure program for the CRYSTAL software package.

Towler Institute

In 2005, Towler opened the Towler Institute, a science institute, conference centre and events venue in a 16th-century monastery situated in the village Vallico di Sotto in Tuscany, Italy, which he owns. [3] [6] Since 2005, over 350 scientists have attended one or several of the 18 events held at the Towler Institute. The events include the annual conference series Quantum Monte Carlo in the Apuan Alps held annually in July since 2005 and, since August 2006, the annual Quantum Monte Carlo and the CASINO program summer schools. [1] In 2010, together with Antony Valentini, he organized a conference on the de Broglie-Bohm theory the Apuan Alps Centre for Physics in late August 2010, hosted at the Towler Institute and attended by many leading physicists. [7]

Publications

As of August 2011, Towler is author of “almost 60 refereed publications with over 1200 citations and a H-index of 19”. [1] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis de Broglie</span> Nobel Laureate physicist (1892–1987)

Louis Victor Pierre Raymond, 7th Duc de Broglie was a French physicist and aristocrat who made groundbreaking contributions to quantum theory. In his 1924 PhD thesis, he postulated the wave nature of electrons and suggested that all matter has wave properties. This concept is known as the de Broglie hypothesis, an example of wave–particle duality, and forms a central part of the theory of quantum mechanics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niels Bohr Institute</span> Scientific research institute

The de Broglie–Bohm theory, also known as the pilot wave theory, Bohmian mechanics, Bohm's interpretation, and the causal interpretation, is an interpretation of quantum mechanics. It postulates that in addition to the wavefunction, an actual configuration of particles exists, even when unobserved. The evolution over time of the configuration of all particles is defined by a guiding equation. The evolution of the wave function over time is given by the Schrödinger equation. The theory is named after Louis de Broglie (1892–1987) and David Bohm (1917–1992).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cavendish Laboratory</span> University of Cambridge Physics Department

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Bohm</span> American-British scientist (1917–1992)

David Joseph Bohm was an American–Brazilian–British scientist who has been described as one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century and who contributed unorthodox ideas to quantum theory, neuropsychology and the philosophy of mind. Among his many contributions to physics is his causal and deterministic interpretation of quantum theory known as De Broglie–Bohm theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Josephson</span> British Nobel Laureate in Physics

Brian David Josephson is a Welsh theoretical physicist and professor emeritus of physics at the University of Cambridge. Best known for his pioneering work on superconductivity and quantum tunnelling, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 for his prediction of the Josephson effect, made in 1962 when he was a 22-year-old PhD student at Cambridge University. Josephson is the first Welshman to have won a Nobel Prize in Physics. He shared the prize with physicists Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever, who jointly received half the award for their own work on quantum tunnelling.

In science and especially in mathematical studies, a variational principle is one that enables a problem to be solved using calculus of variations, which concerns finding functions that optimize the values of quantities that depend on those functions. For example, the problem of determining the shape of a hanging chain suspended at both ends—a catenary—can be solved using variational calculus, and in this case, the variational principle is the following: The solution is a function that minimizes the gravitational potential energy of the chain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pilot wave theory</span> One interpretation of quantum mechanics

In theoretical physics, the pilot wave theory, also known as Bohmian mechanics, was the first known example of a hidden-variable theory, presented by Louis de Broglie in 1927. Its more modern version, the de Broglie–Bohm theory, interprets quantum mechanics as a deterministic theory, avoiding troublesome notions such as wave–particle duality, instantaneous wave function collapse, and the paradox of Schrödinger's cat. To solve these problems, the theory is inherently nonlocal.

Sir Michael Pepper is a British physicist notable for his work in semiconductor nanostructures.

Stephen John Blundell is a professor of physics at the University of Oxford. He was previously head of Condensed Matter Physics at Oxford, and is also a professorial fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford. His research is concerned with using muon-spin rotation and magnetoresistance techniques to study a range of organic and inorganic materials, particularly those showing interesting magnetic, superconducting, or dynamical properties.

Antony Valentini is a theoretical physicist known for his work on the foundations of quantum physics.

Kurt Binder was an Austrian theoretical physicist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Littlewood</span>

Peter Brent Littlewood is a British physicist and Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago. He was the 12th Director of Argonne National Laboratory. He previously headed the Cavendish Laboratory as well as the Theory of Condensed Matter group and the Theoretical Physics Research department at Bell Laboratories. Littlewood serves as the founding chair of the board of trustees of the Faraday Institution.

CASINO is a quantum Monte Carlo program that was originally developed in the Theory of Condensed Matter group at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. CASINO can be used to perform variational quantum Monte Carlo and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the energy and distribution of electrons in atoms, molecules and crystals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum non-equilibrium</span> Notions in the de Broglie-Bohm theory

Quantum non-equilibrium is a concept within stochastic formulations of the De Broglie–Bohm theory of quantum physics.

Michael Christopher Payne is a British theoretical physicist, working in the field of computational physics and theoretical condensed matter physics at the University of Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massimo Boninsegni</span> Theoretical condensed matter physicist

Massimo Boninsegni is an Italian-Canadian theoretical condensed matter physicist. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in physics at the Universita' degli Studi di Genova in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G. Peter Lepage</span> Canadian American theoretical physicist

G. Peter Lepage is a Canadian American theoretical physicist and an academic administrator. He was the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University from 2003 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crispin Barnes</span>

Crispin Henry William Barnes is a British professor of quantum physics at the University of Cambridge. He is the head of the Thin Film Magnetism and Quantum Information groups at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He lectures on advanced quantum condensed matter physics and quantum information. Crispin Barnes is the brother of British bird artist and adventurer Eustace Barnes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefano Fantoni</span> Italian physicist

Stefano Fantoni is an Italian theoretical physicist, now retired from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste (SISSA), still working in the fields of nuclear physics and low temperature physics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Curriculum Vitae, Michael David Towler(last updated: May 2015, retrieved: 30 August 2022)
  2. ↑ List of Alumni, TCM Group (retrieved 30 August 2022)
  3. 1 2 Mike Towler, homepage at Theory of Condensed Matter group (TCM), Cavendish Laboratory
  4. ↑ M. D. Towler, The LOUIS computer code (University of Cambridge, 2010). Cited after M.D. Towler, N.J. Russell, A. Valentini: Timescales for dynamical relaxation to the Born rule, 1103.1589 arXiv 1103.1589, submitted 8 March 2011, retrieved 17 July 2011
  5. ↑ R.J. Needs, M.D. Towler, N.D. Drummond and P. López Ríos, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 22, 023201 (2010). Cited after CASINO, TCM
  6. ↑ The Towler Institute
  7. ↑ 21st-century directions in de Broglie-Bohm theory and beyond, 2010 event announcement at physicsworld.com
  8. ↑ Mike Towler Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine , Cambridge University staff list
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.