Gordon Alan Baym (born July 1, 1935) is an American

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experime ...

Biography

Born in New York City, he graduated from the

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is an elite public high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is one of t ...

, and received his undergraduate degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1956. He earned his Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1960, studying under

Julian Schwinger Julian Seymour Schwinger (; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant ...

. He joined the physics faculty of the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1963, becoming a full professor in 1968. His areas of research include

condensed-matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the su ...

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

and astrophysics, as well as the

history of physics Physics is a branch of science whose primary objects of study are matter and energy. Discoveries of physics find applications throughout the natural sciences and in technology. Physics today may be divided loosely into classical physics and mode ...

. In 1962 he and

Leo Kadanoff Leo Philip Kadanoff (January 14, 1937 – October 26, 2015) was an American physicist. He was a professor of physics (emeritus from 2004) at the University of Chicago and a former President of the American Physical Society (APS). He contributed t ...

collaborated on ''Quantum Statistical Mechanics:

Green's Function In mathematics, a Green's function is the impulse response of an inhomogeneous linear differential operator defined on a domain with specified initial conditions or boundary conditions. This means that if \operatorname is the linear differenti ...

Methods in Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Problems''. In 1969 he published ''Lectures on Quantum Mechanics'', a widely used graduate textbook that, unconventionally, begins with

photon polarization Photon polarization is the quantum mechanical description of the classical polarized sinusoidal plane electromagnetic wave. An individual photon can be described as having right or left circular polarization, or a superposition of the two. Equ ...

. In 1991 he and Chris Pethick published the monograph ''Landau Fermi-Liquid Theory: Concepts and Applications''. Baym was awarded the Hans A. Bethe Prize in 2002 "For his superb synthesis of fundamental concepts which have provided an understanding of matter at extreme conditions, ranging from crusts and interiors of

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. w ...

s to matter at ultrahigh temperature". He also received the

Lars Onsager Prize The Lars Onsager Prize is a prize in theoretical statistical physics awarded annually by the American Physical Society. Prize recipients receive a medal, certificate, and $10,000. It was established in 1993 by Drs. Russell and Marian Donnelly in m ...

in 2008 "for fundamental applications of statistical physics to quantum fluids, including Fermi liquid theory and ground-state properties of dilute quantum gases, and for bringing a conceptual unity to these areas"Prize Recipient
/ref> along with Christopher Pethick and Tin-Lun Ho. He has four children, professors of communications

Nancy Baym Nancy Baym, Ph.D. is an American scholar and Senior Principal Research Manager at Microsoft Research, formerly a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas. She was a member of the founding board and former president of the A ...

and Geoffrey Baym, mathematician and biologist Michael Baym, and cognitive neuroscientist Carol Baym. He was married to

Nina Baym Nina Baym (1936–2018) was an American literary critic and literary historian. She was professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1963 to 2004. Before her retirement at the University of Illinois Baym was a Swanlu ...

, a professor of English at the UIUC, and Lillian Hoddeson, a professor of History at UIUC.

Awards and honors

*Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, 1981 *Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 1982 *Member of the American Philosophical Society, 2000 * Hans A. Bethe Prize, 2002 *

, 2008 *

Eugene Feenberg Memorial Medal {{short description, Physics award The Eugene Feenberg Memorial Medal (also Feenberg Award) is a prize for quantum many-body theory named for American physicist Eugene Feenberg. It has been awarded at the ''International Conference on recent progre ...

, 2011 * APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research, 2021

References

External links

Gordon Baym, Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
* . Recording of a lecture, April 3, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baym, Gordon 1935 births 21st-century American physicists Cornell University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard University alumni Living people University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Theoretical physicists Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Physical Society