Oliver Penrose facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Oliver Penrose
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| Born | 6 June 1929 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University College, London King's College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Bose–Einstein condensation in liquid helium Direction of time Kinetics of phase transitions Foundations of statistical mechanics Penrose criterion |
| Awards | FRS (1987) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Imperial College, London Open University Heriot-Watt University |
| Doctoral advisor | H N V Temperley |
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He is the brother of Roger Penrose, Jonathan Penrose, and Shirley Hodgson, and son of Lionel Penrose, and grandson of J. Doyle Penrose and John Beresford Leathes. He is the nephew of Roland Penrose and cousin of Antony Penrose.
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Oliver Penrose FRS FRSE is a British theoretical physicist born on June 6, 1929. He is famous for his important work in understanding how materials behave, especially at very cold temperatures. He comes from a family of brilliant scientists and thinkers.
Contents
Who is Oliver Penrose?
Oliver Penrose is a scientist who studies physics, especially the very tiny parts of matter. He tries to understand how these tiny parts work together to make up everything around us. His work helps us understand strange things like why some materials can conduct electricity perfectly.
A Family of Bright Minds
Oliver Penrose grew up in a very smart family. His father, Lionel Penrose, was also a scientist. Oliver has three famous siblings:
- His brother, Roger Penrose, is a mathematical physicist. He has won a Nobel Prize for his work on black holes.
- Another brother, Jonathan Penrose, is a chess Grandmaster. This means he is one of the best chess players in the world.
- His sister, Shirley Hodgson, is a geneticist. She studies how traits are passed down through families.
Oliver's family shows that curiosity and a love for learning can run in a family!
Oliver's Scientific Journey
Oliver Penrose has spent many years teaching and researching at different universities. He shared his knowledge with students and continued to explore new ideas in physics.
Where He Taught and Researched
Oliver Penrose worked at the Open University for 17 years. This university is known for its distance learning programs. From 1986 until he retired in 1994, he was a Professor of Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Even after retiring, he still holds the title of Professor Emeritus and continues to be active in research there.
His Amazing Work in Physics
Oliver Penrose's research covers many interesting areas of physics. He looks at how materials change and behave under different conditions.
Understanding Materials at Extreme Temperatures
One of his main interests is statistical mechanics. This field uses math to understand how large groups of tiny particles behave. He also studies phase transitions. This is when a material changes its state, like water turning into ice or steam. He looked at these changes in metals and in special liquids called surfactants.
Superfluids and Superconductors
Oliver Penrose developed a key idea called "off-diagonal long-range order." This idea is very important for understanding superfluids and superconductors.
- Superfluids are liquids that can flow without any friction. It's like they have no stickiness at all!
- Superconductors are materials that can carry electricity with zero resistance. This means electricity can flow through them forever without losing any energy.
His work helped scientists understand why these amazing materials behave the way they do at very, very cold temperatures.
The Mystery of Time
Oliver Penrose also explored more complex ideas, like the direction of time. This is about understanding why time always seems to move forward and never backward. He also looked into different ways to understand interpretations of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is the science that studies the smallest particles in the universe.
External Links
- Penrose's games at Chessgames.com
