The Philosopher
Philip Warren Anderson
The face
The background
- Nationality:
- American
- Schools:
- Harvard University
- Period:
- 21st century
The synopsis
The works
Concepts in Solids
Basic Notions of Condensed Matter Physics
The Theory of Superconductivity in the High-Tc Cuprates
More and different: notes from a thoughtful curmudgeon
The Theory of Pressure Broadening of Spectral Lines in the Microwave and Infrared Regions
Absence of diffusion in certain random lattices
Plasmons, gauge invariance, and mass
Anomalous low-temperature thermal properties of glasses and spin glasses
More is different
The resonating valence bond state in La2CuO4 and superconductivity
Physics: the opening to complexity
Mind over matter: Review of *The Large, the Small and the Human Mind*
When the electron falls apart
Computing: solving problems in finite time
Brainwashed by Feynman?
Thinking big
Twenty years of talking past each other: the theory of high T C
Hidden Fermi Liquid: Self-Consistent Theory for the Normal State of High-Tc Superconductors
The quotes
I acquired an admiration for Japanese culture, art, and architecture, and learned of the existence of the game of GO, which I still play.
The first months at Harvard were more than challenging, as I came to the realization that the humanities could be genuinely interesting, and, in fact, given the weaknesses of my background, very difficult.
I have also testified repeatedly and published some articles in favor of Small Science.
One of our brainchildren is a still viable Science and Society course.
The Nobel Prize gives one the opportunity to take public stands.
The field of quantum valence fluctuations was another older interest which became much more active during this period, partly as a consequence of my own efforts.
The ability to reduce everything to simple fundamental laws does not imply the ability to start from those laws and reconstruct the universe.
An important impression was my father's one Sabbatical year, spent in England and Europe in 1937.
The years since the Nobel Prize have been productive ones for me.
Although raised on the farm - my grandfather was an unsuccessful fundamentalist preacher turned farmer - my father and his brother both became professors.
My own work in spin glass and its consequences has formed some of the intellectual basis for these interests.
The prize seemed to change my professional life very little.