Brian Pippard

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For the engineer named Alfred John Sutton Pippard, see Alfred Pippard.
Brian Pippard

Brian Pippard
Born (1920-09-07)7 September 1920
Earl's Court, London
Died 21 September 2008(2008-09-21) (aged 88)
Cambridge
Institutions University of Cambridge
Notable students Brian David Josephson
John Shepherd
Notable awards Fellow of the Royal Society

Sir Alfred Brian Pippard, ScD, FRS (7 September 1920 – 21 September 2008),[1] was a British physicist. He was Cavendish Professor of Physics from 1971 until 1984 and an Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, of which he was the first President. He was educated at Clifton College.

Pippard demonstrated the reality (as opposed to a mere abstract concept) of Fermi surface in metals by establishing the shape of the Fermi surface in copper through measuring the reflection and absorption of microwave electromagnetic radiation[2] (see the anomalous skin effect[3]). He also introduced the notion of coherence length in superconductors in his proposal for the non-local generalisation of the Londons' equation[4] concerning electrodynamics in superfluids and superconductors. The non-local kernel proposed by Pippard[5][6][7] (inferred on the basis of Chambers' non-local generalisation of the Ohm law) can be deduced within the framework of the BCS (Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer) theory of superconductivity[8] (a comprehensive description of the details of the London-Pippard theory can be found in the book by Fetter and Walecka[9]).

Pippard was the author of Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics,[10] Dynamics of Conduction Electrons,[11] and The Physics of Vibration.[12] He is also a co-author of the three-volumes encyclopaedia Twentieth Century Physics.[13] As the Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, he complied Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics,[14] based in large part on past examination questions for Cambridge physics students.

Pippard was the doctoral supervisor of Brian David Josephson (awarded PhD in Physics in 1964) who in 1973 received the Nobel Prize in Physics (together with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever) for his discovery of what is known as the Josephson effect.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Longair, M. S.; Waldram, J. R. (2009). "Sir Alfred Brian Pippard. 7 September 1920 -- 21 September 2008". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 55: 201–220. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2009.0014. 
  2. ↑ Pippard, A. B. (1957). "An Experimental Determination of the Fermi Surface in Copper". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 250 (979): 325–357. doi:10.1098/rsta.1957.0023. 
  3. ↑ N. W. Ashcroft, and N. D. Mermin, Solid State Physics (Thompson Learning, Inc., London, 1976), Chapter 14, Measuring the Fermi Surface, p. 277, Anomalous Skin Effect. ISBN 0-03-083993-9. See Classical skin depth.
  4. ↑ F. London, Superfluids, Vol. I: Macroscopic Theory of Superconductivity (Dover Publications, New York, 1961), p. 152.
  5. ↑ Waldram, J. R.; Pippard, A. B.; Clarke, J. (1970). "Theory of the Current-Voltage Characteristics of SNS Junctions and other Superconducting Weak Links". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 268 (1188): 265–287. doi:10.1098/rsta.1970.0075. 
  6. ↑ Pippard, A. B. (1964). "Quantization of Coupled Orbits in Metals II. The Two-Dimensional Network, with Special Reference to the Properties of Zinc". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 256 (1072): 317–355. doi:10.1098/rsta.1964.0008. 
  7. ↑ Pippard, A. B. (1955). "Trapped Flux in Superconductors". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 248 (941): 97–129. doi:10.1098/rsta.1955.0011. 
  8. ↑ J. Bardeen, L. N. Cooper, and J. R. Schrieffer, Theory of Superconductivity, Phys. Rev., Vol. 108, No. 5, pp. 1175-1204 (1957). APS (Free Download)
  9. ↑ A. L. Fetter, and J. D. Walecka, Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems (Dover Publications, New York, 2003), Chapter 13, Superconductivity, Section 49, London-Pippard Phenomenological Theory. ISBN 0-486-42827-3.
  10. ↑ A. B. Pippard, Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics (Cambridge University Press, 1957). ISBN 0-521-09101-2.
  11. ↑ A. B. Pippard, Dynamics of Conduction Electrons, Documents on Modern Physics (Gordon & Beach, 1965).
  12. ↑ A. B. Pippard, The Physics of Vibration (Cambridge University Press, 2007). ISBN 0-521-03333-0.
  13. ↑ Laurie M. Brown, Abraham Pais, and Brian Pippard, Twentieth Century Physics (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1995): Vol. I, 808 p., ISBN 0-7503-0353-0, Vol. II, 808 p., ISBN 0-7503-0354-9, Vol. III, 960 p., ISBN 0-7503-0355-7.
  14. ↑ A. B. Pippard, Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics (Pamphlet) (Cambridge University Press, 1962). A. B. Pippard, Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics (Pamphlet), 64 p. (Cambridge University Press, 1971)
  15. ↑ B. D. Josephson, Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling, Phys. Lett., Vol. 1, pp. 251-253 (1962).

Obituaries

  • Anthony Tucker, Sir Brian Pippard, The Guardian, Wednesday, 25 September 2008, .
  • John Waldram, Professor Sir Brian Pippard (1920 - 2008), News and Events, University Offices, University of Cambridge, 24 September 2008, .
  • Professor Sir Brian Pippard (1920-2008), Cambridge Network, 25 September 2008, (Reproduced from University of Cambridge Office of Communications).
  • John Waldram, Brian Pippard (1920-2008): Low-temperature physicist who excelled in subtle intuitive concepts, Nature 455, 1191 (30 October 2008), .
  • Professor Sir Brian Pippard, Telegraph, 23 September 2008, .
  • Professor Sir Brian Pippard: Cambridge physicist, The Times, 25 September 2008, .
  • Richard Eden, Professor Sir Brian Pippard: Physicist who proved the existence of the Fermi surface and was the first President of Clare Hall, Cambridge, The Independent, Tuesday, 7 October 2008, .
  • Hamish Johnston, Sir Brian Pippard: 1920-2008, PhysicsWorld, 24 September 2008, .

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