Anthony J. Leggett
Professor Leggett is a leader in the theory of low-temperature physics. His current research interests include the measurement problem in quantum theory, especially ways to exploit the unique properties of low-temperature systems for relevant experimental tests; topological quantum computation; high-temperature superconductivity; and the low-temperature properties of glass. He is the author of The Problems of Physics (1987), and of Quantum Liquids: Bose Condensation and Cooper Pairing in Condensed Matter Systems, OUP, Oxford.
He was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Sussex in 1967 and was honored in 1978 by the creation of a personal professorial chair. He received the Maxwell Medal and Prize, British Institute of Physics, “for his contributions to the theory of the behavior of condensed matter at very low temperatures.” In 1981 he received two distinguished awards: the 11th Fritz London Memorial Award (of the international low-temperature physics community) “in recognition of outstanding theoretical contributions to our fundamental knowledge of normal and superfluid Fermi liquids”; and the 9th Simon Memorial Prize, British Institute of Physics, “for his outstanding contributions to the theory of superfluid 3He.” He has also received the Paul Dirac Medal and Prize, British Institute of Physics; John Bardeen Prize (jointly with G.M. Eliashberg); Eugene Feenberg Memorial Medal; Wolf Prize in Physics, Wolf Foundation, Israel; and Nobel Prize in Physics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (jointly with V.L. Ginzburg and A.A. Abrikosov). He is a fellow of the Royal Society, American Philosophical Society, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences; honorary fellow, British Institute of Physics; foreign member, Russian Academy of Sciences; and foreign member, National Academy of Sciences. In 2005 he received a Knighthood of the British Empire (KBE) for his contributions to physics.
The Department of Physics celebrated Professor Leggett’s 80th birthday with a symposium and other events.