Nigel D. Goldenfeld
Swanlund Chair and Professor of Physics
Professor Goldenfeld received his bachelor's and PhD degrees in physics from the University of Cambridge, England, in 1979 and 1982, respectively. After a postdoctoral appointment at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, he joined the Department of Physics as an assistant professor in 1985. He was promoted to associate professor in 1991 and to full professor in 1995.
Professor Goldenfeld studies two main types of problems: how patterns in physical systems evolve in time and how new laws of physics arise in a system from the collective behavior of its component parts (emergent states of matter).
Although he is best known for his seminal contributions to condensed matter physics, In recent years, Professor Goldenfeld has become increasingly interested in problems of quantitative biology, including ecology, scaling laws, biocomplexity, microbial ecology, and evolution. His group is currently engaged in a NSF-funded $5,000,000 multi-institution, multidisciplinary effort to explore the emergence of life from early geochemistry.
He has also applied his skills to quantitative finance and medical physics; he co-founded NumeriX, a high tech company that markets fast numerical software products for derivative risk management in the financial markets and for radiation therapies for cancer treatment.
Professor Goldenfeld is an outstanding teacher who has contributed significantly to course development in our department and who has a singular ability to convey his excitement and interest in physics to his students. He has described his approach to teaching in this way: "I try to make the problems interesting, sometimes even unusual. My attitude . . . is summed up in a aphorism attributed to Confucius: 'I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.'" His book, Lectures on Phase Transitions and the Renormalization Group (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1992), has been adopted by many graduate schools as the text of choice for this important subject.
Research Area: theoretical condensed matter physics, pattern formation in spatially extended systems, high temperature superconductivity, biocomplexity, microbial ecology, evolution
Selected Recent Publications
N. Goldenfeld and L. Kadanoff, "Simple Lessons from Complexity," Science 284, 87-89 (1999).
N. Israeli and N. Goldenfeld, "Computational irreducibility and the predictability of complex physical systems," Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 074105 (2004).
N. Goldenfeld, B.P. Athreya, and J.A. Dantzig, "Renormalization group approach to multiscale simulation of polycrystalline materials using the phase field crystal model," Phys. Rev. E 72, 020601 (2005).
N. Goldenfeld and R. Haydock, "Phase diagram for Anderson disorder: beyond single-parameter scaling," Phys. Rev. B 73, 045118 (2006).
N. Goldenfeld, "Roughness-induced critical phenomena in a turbulent flow," Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 044503 (2006).
Stealing the Gold: A Celebration of the Pioneering Physics of Sam Edwards
A selection of reprints accompanied by chapters by various authors; edited by Paul M. Goldbart, Nigel Goldenfeld and David Sherrington (published by Oxford University Press, 2004; see the cover)
Honors and Awards
- Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 1987
- Beckman Associate, Center for Advanced Study, 1988
- Xerox Award for Faculty Research, University of Illinois College of Engineering, 1991
- University Scholar, 1994–97
- Fellow, American Physical Society
- Arnold T. Nordsieck Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2002
