Édouard Brézin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Édouard Brezin
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| Born | 1 December 1938 |
| Nationality | French |
| Alma mater | École Polytechnique École des ponts ParisTech |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
Édouard Brézin (born 1 December 1938 in Paris) is a French theoretical physicist. A theoretical physicist uses math and models to understand how the universe works. He is a professor at Université Paris 6. He has worked at the laboratory for theoretical physics (LPT) of the École Normale Supérieure since 1986.
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About Édouard Brézin
Brézin was born in Paris, France. His parents were from Poland. During World War II, his father served in the French army. He was captured by the Germans in 1940 but managed to escape. To stay safe, his family used different names. Young Brézin was hidden by farmers during this time.
Brézin studied at École Polytechnique. This is a famous engineering school in France. After that, he earned his PhD. He worked at the theory division of the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (a French atomic energy agency) in Saclay until 1986.
Brézin has made important contributions to physics. He studied the properties of matter on a large scale. He also worked on high energy physics, which looks at tiny particles. He was a leader in understanding "critical behavior." This is how materials change their properties suddenly, like water turning into ice. He helped develop ways to predict these changes.
He used special math tools called "field theoretic techniques." These helped him study condensed matter, which is about how atoms are arranged in solids and liquids. His work helped improve our understanding of magnetism and the quantum Hall effect. The quantum Hall effect is a special behavior of electrons in very strong magnetic fields.
Awards and Recognition
Brézin was chosen as a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1991. He even served as the president of the academy from 2005 to 2006. He is also a member of several other important science groups around the world. These include the United States National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society in the UK.
He has received high honors in France. He is a commander in the French National Order of Merit. He is also an Officer of the Legion of Honor.
He is the Chair of the Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation. In 2011, he was awarded the Dirac Medal. This is a very important award in theoretical physics. He shared it with John Cardy and Alexander Zamolodchikov. In 2004, he also won the Institute of Physics President's Medal.
His Research Work
Edouard Brézin's research focuses on quantum field theory. This is a way to describe particles and forces using ideas from quantum mechanics. He mainly used it to understand statistical physics. This field studies how large groups of particles behave.
He used a method called the "renormalization group." This helps explain how materials behave at critical points. He showed how some materials act when their symmetry breaks. He also found ways to make accurate predictions in physics.
Brézin applied his knowledge to problems in condensed matter. This includes understanding how a normal metal changes into a special type of superconductor. He also studied theories about "gauging" with many "colors." This led to new ways of thinking about quantum gravity in two dimensions. He used "random matrices" to describe these ideas. He also worked on understanding how eigenvalues (special numbers in math) are related in random matrices.
Books by Édouard Brézin
- The large N expansion in quantum field theory and statistical physics, E Brezin and S Wadia, World Scientific (1993)
- Introduction to statistical field theory, E Brezin, Cambridge University press (2010)
See also
- List of members of the National Academy of Sciences
