Marvin D. Girardeau (3 October 1930 – 13 January 2015) was a

quantum In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizati ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, and a faculty member in the Institute for Theoretical Science at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, where he was hired as a professor in 1963 and worked until his retirement in 2000, after which he became a research professor at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. He was a mathematical physicist with an unusual nonlinear career, which culminated in a remarkable impact in the ultracold atom physics community. One of Girardeau's achievements was to predict the existence of the

Tonks–Girardeau gas In physics, a Tonks–Girardeau gas is a Bose gas in which the repulsive interactions between bosonic particles confined to one dimension dominate the system's physics. It is named after physicists Marvin D. Girardeau and Lewi Tonks. It is not a B ...

in 1960. A Tonks–Girardeau gas was created in 2004, and its measured properties strikingly confirmed Girardeau's original predictions. His research interests included the dynamics of ultracold

atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, and ...

vapour In physics, a vapor (American English) or vapour (British English and Canadian English; see spelling differences) is a substance in the gas phase at a temperature lower than its critical temperature,R. H. Petrucci, W. S. Harwood, and F. G. Herr ...

confined in tight de Broglie

waveguide A waveguide is a structure that guides waves, such as electromagnetic waves or sound, with minimal loss of energy by restricting the transmission of energy to one direction. Without the physical constraint of a waveguide, wave intensities de ...

s; and the behaviour of identical particles including

fermion In particle physics, a fermion is a particle that follows Fermi–Dirac statistics. Generally, it has a half-odd-integer spin: spin , spin , etc. In addition, these particles obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Fermions include all quarks an ...

boson In particle physics, a boson ( ) is a subatomic particle whose spin quantum number has an integer value (0,1,2 ...). Bosons form one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particle, the other being fermions, which have odd half-integer s ...

s, and

anyon In physics, an anyon is a type of quasiparticle that occurs only in two-dimensional systems, with properties much less restricted than the two kinds of standard elementary particles, fermions and bosons. In general, the operation of exchangi ...

s. Girardeau was a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, and winner of the 1984

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

. His 1984-86 tenure at the Max Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie, Mühlheim/Ruhr, Germany, followed. In 2013, Marvin was nominated for a prestigious Senior BEC Award by the European Community.

References

* https://archive.today/20121212224717/http://www.optics.arizona.edu/girardeau/ * https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2040690306_M_D_Girardeau * https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/0/5172/files/2016/10/PhysHist2016-1lpjqx1.pdf * https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.6134/full/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Girardeau, Marvin D. 1930 births 2015 deaths Quantum physicists University of Arizona faculty University of Oregon faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Humboldt Research Award recipients