László Tisza (July 7, 1907 – April 15, 2009) was a Hungarian-born American physicist who was Professor of Physics Emeritus at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. He was a colleague of famed physicists

Edward Teller Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care for ...

Lev Landau Lev Davidovich Landau (russian: Лев Дави́дович Ланда́у; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet-Azerbaijani physicist of Jewish descent who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. His ac ...

and

Fritz London Fritz Wolfgang London (March 7, 1900 – March 30, 1954) was a German physicist and professor at Duke University. His fundamental contributions to the theories of chemical bonding and of intermolecular forces ( London dispersion forces) are today ...

, and initiated the two-fluid theory of

liquid helium Liquid helium is a physical state of helium at very low temperatures at standard atmospheric pressures. Liquid helium may show superfluidity. At standard pressure, the chemical element helium exists in a liquid form only at the extremely low temp ...

United States

In 1941, Tisza immigrated to the United States and joined the faculty at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

. His research areas included

theoretical physics 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 experim ...

and the history and

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...

, specifically on the foundation of

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws ...

and

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

. He taught at MIT until 1973.

Publications

Tisza was the author of the 1966 book, ''Generalized Thermodynamics''. The 1982 publication, ''Physics as Natural Philosophy: Essays in Honor of László Tisza'', was written by Tisza's colleagues and former students in honor of his 75th birthday.

Affiliations

He 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

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 ...

, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow and had been a visiting professor at the University of Paris in Sorbonne.

References

External links

MIT site – notice of Tisza's death

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship site
1907 births 2009 deaths Scientists from Budapest Hungarian emigrants to the United States American centenarians 20th-century American educators American science writers 20th-century Hungarian physicists Hungarian centenarians Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts Thermodynamics University of Paris faculty 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Men centenarians {{US-physicist-stub

United States

Publications

Affiliations

See also

References

External links