Matjaž Perc is Professor of Physics at the

University of Maribor The University of Maribor ( sl, Univerza v Mariboru) is Slovenia's second-largest university, established in 1975 in Maribor, Slovenia. It currently has 17 faculties. History The university's roots reach back to 1859, when a theological semin ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, and director of th
Complex Systems Center Maribor
He is member of

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

Matjaž Perc at Academia Europaea
/ref> and among top 1% most cited physicists according to

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

Highly Cited Researchers.Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers
/ref> He is Outstanding Referee of the Physical Review and

Physical Review Letters ''Physical Review Letters'' (''PRL''), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. As also confirmed by various measurement standards, which include the ''Journa ...

journals,APS Outstanding Referees Program
/ref> and Distinguished Referee of EPL.Distinguished EPL Referees
/ref> He received the Young Scientist Award for Socio-and Econophysics in 2015.
/ref> His research has been widely reported in the media and professional literature.Who should pay for the police?
''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' 2010-07-14Tracking the most popular words in written English
''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...

'' 2012-07-25The Evolution of English Words and Phrases Since 1520
''

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

2012-12-11''Physicists Explore The Rise And Fall Of Words
''Inside Science'' 2012-12-27

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

2013-02-10Fewer 'bromances' or 'staycations' than friends and trips, Google shows

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

2012-12-28A brave new word
''

Chemistry World ''Chemistry World'' is a monthly chemistry news magazine published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The magazine addresses current events in world of chemistry including research, international business news and government policy as it affects ...

'' 2015-02-24The cost and benefit of deception
''

Physics Today ''Physics Today'' is the membership magazine of the American Institute of Physics. First published in May 1948, it is issued on a monthly schedule, and is provided to the members of ten physics societies, including the American Physical Society. I ...

'' 2014-12-04The influence of influence in Prisoner’s Dilemma
''

Science News ''Science News (SN)'' is an American bi-weekly magazine devoted to articles about new scientific and technical developments, typically gleaned from recent scientific and technical journals. History ''Science News'' has been published since 1 ...

'' 2008-12-05Measuring the Spread of Ideas through the ''Physical Review''
''

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

'' 2014-11-21Tolerate thy neighbour
''

Nature Physics ''Nature Physics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was first published in October 2005 (volume 1, issue 1). The chief editor is Andrea Taroni, who is a full-time professional editor employed by this ...

'' 2016-09-02

Biography

Matjaž Perc studied physics at the

. He completed his doctoral thesis on noise-induced pattern formation in spatially extended systems with applications to the nervous system, game-theoretical models, and social complexity. In 2009 he received the Zois Certificate of Recognition for outstanding research achievements in theoretical physics. Awardees of the Zois Certificate of RecognitionPodelili Zoisove nagrade in priznanja
''

Delo ''Delo'' (russian: Дело) is a business oriented online media in Ukraine, belonging to ekonomika+ media holding. ''Delo'' was the first daily in Ukraine, publishing its real print circulation (13.000 - 15.000) and trying to introduce Western e ...

'' 2009-11-23 In 2010 he became head of the Institute of Physics at the

, and in 2011 he became full Professor of Physics. In 2015, Matjaž Perc established the Complex Systems Center Maribor.Complex Systems Center Maribor
/ref> His research on

complex systems A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication s ...

covers

evolutionary game theory Evolutionary game theory (EGT) is the application of game theory to evolving populations in biology. It defines a framework of contests, strategies, and analytics into which Darwinian competition can be modelled. It originated in 1973 with John Ma ...

, agent-based modeling,

data analysis Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, enco ...

, and

network science Network science is an academic field which studies complex networks such as telecommunication networks, computer networks, biological networks, cognitive and semantic networks, and social networks, considering distinct elements or actors repre ...

Research

Matjaž Perc is an expert on the theory of cooperation on networks. He has applied Monte Carlo simulations and

dynamical mean field theory Dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) is a method to determine the electronic structure of strongly correlated materials. In such materials, the approximation of independent electrons, which is used in density functional theory and usual band structure ...

to discover that stochastic perturbations resolve social dilemmas in a resonance-like manner. He has also pioneered self-organization as a way of stabilizing reward and punishment in structured populations, and he has proposed the introduction of discrete strategies in ultimatum games, which has contributed to the understanding of the fascinating complexity behind human bargaining. His research has helped to reveal the full potential of methods of

non-equilibrium Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a branch of thermodynamics that deals with physical systems that are not in thermodynamic equilibrium but can be described in terms of macroscopic quantities (non-equilibrium state variables) that represent an ext ...

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 ...

. He has done research on the evolution of moral and double moral standards, the evolution of the most common English words and phrases, and the rise and fall of new words. He has discovered

self-organization Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when suffi ...

in the way how major scientific ideas propagate across the physics literature, which culminated in a simple mathematical regularity that is able to identify scientific

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

s. In addition to his various original contributions, Matjaž Perc has provided the research community with several reviews and introductory articles on evolutionary games, the emergence of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, collective phenomena in socio-economic systems, energy-saving mechanisms in nature, and the

Matthew Effect The Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, Matthew principle, or Matthew effect, is the tendency of individuals to accrue social or economic success in proportion to their initial level of popularity, friends, wealth, etc. It is sometimes summar ...

. By the number of citations, he is the most cited author of several physics journals including

New Journal of Physics ''New Journal of Physics'' is an online-only, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in all aspects of physics, as well as interdisciplinary topics where physics forms the central theme. The journal was established in 1998 ...

Biosystems ''BioSystems'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering experimental, computational, and theoretical research that links biology, evolution, and the information processing sciences. It was established in 1967 as ''Currents in Modern B ...

Journal of the Royal Society Interface The ''Journal of the Royal Society Interface'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the interface between the life sciences and the physical sciences, including chemistry, engineering, materials science, mathematics, and physi ...

Physical Review E ''Physical Review E'' is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal, published monthly by the American Physical Society. The main field of interest is collective phenomena of many-body systems. It is currently edited by Uwe C. Täuber. While original r ...

Awards

* 2018 received the Zois Award (named after

Sigmund Zois Sigmund Zois Freiherr von Edelstein, usually referred as Sigmund Zois ( sl, Žiga Zois, formerly Slovenized as ''Cojs'' or ''Cojz''; ) (23 November 1747 – 10 November 1819) was a Carniolan nobleman, natural scientist and patron of the arts. He ...

). *2017 received USERN Prize in social sciences, for "Transitions Towards Cooperation in Human Societies". * 2009 received the Zois Certificate of Recognition. Being only 30 years old at the time, he was the youngest receiver of the Zois certificate ever.

Publications

For a full list se
Matjaž Perc's ORCID
page. * Spatial coherence resonance in excitable media, Matjaž Perc, Phys. Rev. E 72, 016207 (2005

* Coherence resonance in a spatial prisoner's dilemma game, Matjaž Perc, New J. Phys. 8, 22 (2006

* Transition from Gaussian to Lévy distributions of stochastic payoff variations in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game, Matjaž Perc, Phys. Rev. E 75, 022101 (2007

* Noise-guided evolution within cyclical interactions, Matjaž Perc and Attila Szolnoki, New J. Phys. 9, 267 (2007

* Social diversity and promotion of cooperation in the spatial prisoner's dilemma game, Matjaž Perc and Attila Szolnoki, Phys. Rev. E 77, 011904 (2008

* Making new connections towards cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma game, Attila Szolnoki, Matjaž Perc and Zsuzsa Danku, EPL 84, 50007 (2008

* Topology-independent impact of noise on cooperation in spatial public goods games, Attila Szolnoki, Matjaž Perc and György Szabó, Phys. Rev. E 80, 056109 (2009

* Resolving social dilemmas on evolving random networks, Attila Szolnoki and Matjaž Perc, EPL 86, 30007 (2009

* Coevolutionary games - A mini review, Matjaž Perc and Attila Szolnoki, BioSystems 99, 109-125 (2010

* Does strong heterogeneity promote cooperation by group interactions?, Matjaž Perc, New J. Phys. 13, 123027 (2011

* Defense mechanisms of empathetic players in the spatial ultimatum game, Attila Szolnoki, Matjaž Perc and György Szabó, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 078701 (2012

* Evolution of the most common English words and phrases over the centuries, Matjaž Perc, J. R. Soc. Interface 9, 3323-3328 (2012

(tables containing the most common English words and phrases ar
here
* Self-organization of punishment in structured populations, Matjaž Perc and Attila Szolnoki, New J. Phys. 14, 043013 (2012

* Evolutionary advantages of adaptive rewarding, Attila Szolnoki and Matjaž Perc, New J. Phys. 14, 093016 (2012

* Correlation of positive and negative reciprocity fails to confer an evolutionary advantage: Phase transitions to elementary strategies, Attila Szolnoki and Matjaž Perc, Phys. Rev. X 3, 041021 (2013

* Evolutionary dynamics of group interactions on structured populations: A review, Matjaž Perc, Jesús Gómez Gardeñes, Attila Szolnoki, Luis M. Floría and Yamir Moreno, J. R. Soc. Interface 10, 20120997 (2013

* Inheritance patterns in citation networks reveal scientific memes, Tobias Kuhn, Matjaž Perc and Dirk Helbing, Phys. Rev. X 4, 041036 (2014

(see also the Physics Focus stor
here
* Interdependent network reciprocity in evolutionary games, Zhen Wang, Attila Szolnoki and Matjaž Perc, Scientific Reports 3, 1183 (2013

* Self-organization of progress across the century of physics, Matjaž Perc, Scientific Reports 3, 1720 (2013

(the n-gram viewer for publications 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 ...

i
here
* Antisocial pool rewarding does not deter public cooperation, Attila Szolnoki and Matjaž Perc, Proc. R. Soc. B 282, 20151975 (2015

* The Matthew effect in empirical data, Matjaž Perc, J. R. Soc. Interface 11, 20140378 (2014

* Saving human lives: What complexity science and information systems can contribute, Dirk Helbing, Dirk Brockmann, Thomas Chadefaux, Karsten Donnay, Ulf Blanke, Olivia Woolley-Meza, Mehdi Moussaid, Anders Johansson, Jens Krause, Sebastian Schutte and Matjaž Perc, J. Stat. Phys. 158, 735-781 (2015

* Statistical physics of crime: A review, Maria R. D'Orsogna and Matjaž Perc, Phys. Life Rev. 12, 1-21 (2015

Editorial work

Matjaž Perc is editorial board member at ''

'', ''

'', '' EPL (journal), EPL'', ''

European Physical Journal B ''The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers condensed matter physics, statistical and nonlinear physics, and complex systems. Part of the ''European Physical Jou ...

'', '' Advances in Complex Systems'', '' Frontiers in Interdisciplinary Physics'', ''

International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos ''International Journal of Bifurcationand Chaos in Applied Sciences and Engineering'' (often abbreviated as ''IJBC'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by World Scientific. It was established in 1991 and covers chaos theory and non ...

'', '' PLOS ONE'', ''

Scientific Reports ''Scientific Reports'' is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific mega journal published by Nature Portfolio, covering all areas of the natural sciences. The journal was established in 2011. The journal states that their aim is to assess solely th ...

'', ''

Royal Society Open Science ''Royal Society Open Science'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the Royal Society since September 2014. Its launch was announced in February 2014. It covers all scientific fields and publishes all articles which are sc ...

'',
Chaos, Solitons & Fractals
', and
Applied Mathematics and Computation
'. He was also guest editor for the ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...

''.

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perc, Matjaz 1979 births 21st-century physicists Slovenian physicists Living people Academic staff of the University of Maribor Statistical physicists