T. Bill Sutherland (born March 31, 1942) 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 experimen ...

, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. He received his BA from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

and his PhD in 1968 while studying under Nobel laureate

C. N. Yang Yang Chen-Ning or Chen-Ning Yang (; born 1 October 1922), also known as C. N. Yang or by the English name Frank Yang, is a Chinese Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrab ...

at Stony Brook. He is best known for his work in

statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic be ...

and quantum many body theory. Early in his career he solved the

six vertex model In statistical mechanics, the ice-type models or six-vertex models are a family of vertex models for crystal lattices with hydrogen bonds. The first such model was introduced by Linus Pauling in 1935 to account for the residual entropy of water ice. ...

and developed an exact solution in 1967, which he then followed with the eight vertex model in 1970. He completed his postdoctoral work at

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

in the 1969-1971 time frame where he became interested in inverse square potential many body interactions. He then became a professor of physics at the

in 1971 where he worked until his retirement in 2004. Most notably his name is associated with the Calogero-Sutherland model which is a major research area in theoretical physics and mathematics. He was elected a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of American Physic ...

in 1989 ''" for contributions to the understanding of electronic states in solids"'' For his profound contributions to the field of exactly solvable models in

and

many-body physics The many-body problem is a general name for a vast category of physical problems pertaining to the properties of microscopic systems made of many interacting particles. ''Microscopic'' here implies that quantum mechanics has to be used to provid ...

, Sutherland was a co-recipient of the society's 2019

Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics is an award given each year since 1959 jointly by the American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics. It is established by the Heineman Foundation in honour of Dannie Heineman. As of 2010 ...

, alongside Francesco Calogero and Michel Gaudin.

Selected works

References

External links

Sutherland's faculty page at the University of Utah

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, T. Bill 1942 births Living people 21st-century American physicists Theoretical physicists University of Utah faculty Washington University in St. Louis alumni Washington University in St. Louis mathematicians Washington University physicists Physicists from Missouri Scientists from Missouri Stony Brook University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society 20th-century American physicists