Hans Willem Capel (born 3 June 1936)
is a Dutch theoretical physicist. He was a professor of theoretical physics at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
between 1983 and 1998.
[
Capel was born in Sceaux, France. He obtained his PhD in mathematics and physics at ]Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
in 1965 with a dissertation titled: "The hole-equivalence principle, the Van Vleck relation and the application to the theory of d-ions in Ligand fields".[ Capel subsequently was a lector of theoretical physics at the same university in 1970, and served as professor between 1979 and 1983. He is well known for introducing, in ]Statistical Physics
Statistical physics is a branch of physics that evolved from a foundation of statistical mechanics, which uses methods of probability theory and statistics, and particularly the Mathematics, mathematical tools for dealing with large populations ...
, the ''Blume-Capel model'', describing tricritical point In condensed matter physics, dealing with the macroscopic physical properties of matter, a tricritical point is a point in the phase diagram of a system at which three-phase coexistence terminates. This definition is clearly parallel to the defin ...
s.
Capel was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1990.
References
External links
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1936 births
Living people
20th-century Dutch physicists
Leiden University alumni
Leiden University faculty
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Theoretical physicists
University of Amsterdam faculty
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