British physicist (1920?2008)
Sir Alfred Brian Pippard
,
FRS
(7 September 1920 ? 21 September 2008),
[1]
was a British physicist. He was
Cavendish Professor of Physics
from 1971 until 1982 and an Honorary Fellow of
Clare Hall, Cambridge
, of which he was the first President.
Biography
[
edit
]
Pippard was educated at
Clifton College
[2]
and
Clare College, Cambridge
, where he graduated with
MA (Cantab)
and PhD degrees.
After working as a scientific officer in
radar
research during the Second World War, he was appointed as a Demonstrator in Physics at the University of Cambridge in 1946, subsequently becoming a Lecturer in the subject in 1950, a Reader in 1959, and the first John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Physics a year later. In 1971 he was elected Cavendish Professor of Physics.
[3]
Pippard demonstrated the reality, as opposed to the mere abstract concept, of
Fermi surfaces
in metals by establishing the shape of the Fermi surface of
copper
through measuring the reflection and absorption of microwave electromagnetic radiation
[4]
(see the
anomalous skin effect
[5]
). He also introduced the notion of
coherence length
in
superconductors
in his proposal for the non-local generalisation of the
London equations
[6]
[7]
concerning
electrodynamics
in
superfluids
and superconductors. The non-local kernel proposed by Pippard,
[8]
[9]
[10]
inferred on the basis of Chambers' non-local generalisation of
Ohm's law
) can be deduced within the framework of the
BCS
(
Bardeen
,
Cooper
and
Schrieffer
) theory of superconductivity
[11]
(a comprehensive description of the details of the London?Pippard theory can be found in the book by Fetter and Walecka
[12]
).
Pippard was the author of
Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics
,
[13]
Dynamics of Conduction Electrons
,
[14]
and
The Physics of Vibration
.
[15]
He also co-authored the three-volumes encyclopaedia
Twentieth Century Physics
.
[16]
As the Cavendish Professor of Physics at
Cavendish Laboratory
, University of Cambridge, he compiled
Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics
,
[17]
based in large part on past examination questions for Cambridge physics students.
Pippard was the doctoral supervisor of
Brian David Josephson
(awarded
PhD
in Physics in 1964) who in 1973 received the
Nobel Prize in Physics
(together with
Leo Esaki
and
Ivar Giaever
) for his discovery of what is known as the
Josephson effect
.
[18]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Longair, M. S.
; Waldram, J. R. (2009). "Sir Alfred Brian Pippard. 7 September 1920 -- 21 September 2008".
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
.
55
: 201?220.
doi
:
10.1098/rsbm.2009.0014
.
- ^
"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p464: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
- ^
"PIPPARD, Prof. Sir (Alfred) Brian"
.
Who's Who & Who Was Who
. Vol. 2019 (online ed.). A & C Black.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Pippard, A. B. (1957). "An Experimental Determination of the Fermi Surface in Copper".
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
.
250
(979): 325?357.
Bibcode
:
1957RSPTA.250..325P
.
doi
:
10.1098/rsta.1957.0023
.
S2CID
120993464
.
- ^
N. W. Ashcroft, and N. D. Mermin,
Solid State Physics
(Thompson Learning, Inc., London, 1976), Chapter 14,
Measuring the Fermi Surface
, p. 277,
Anomalous Skin Effect
;
ISBN
0-03-083993-9
. See
Classical skin depth
.
- ^
Zhou, Shu-Ang (1991).
Electrodynamic Theory of Superconductors
. London: Peter Peregrinus Ltd.
ISBN
0-86341-257-2
.
- ^
F. London,
Superfluids
, Vol. I:
Macroscopic Theory of Superconductivity
(Dover Publications, New York, 1961), p. 152.
- ^
Waldram, J. R.; Pippard, A. B.; Clarke, J. (1970).
"Theory of the Current-Voltage Characteristics of SNS Junctions and other Superconducting Weak Links"
.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
.
268
(1188): 265?287.
Bibcode
:
1970RSPTA.268..265W
.
doi
:
10.1098/rsta.1970.0075
.
S2CID
122559890
.
- ^
Pippard, A. B. (1964). "Quantization of Coupled Orbits in Metals II. The Two-Dimensional Network, with Special Reference to the Properties of Zinc".
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
.
256
(1072): 317?355.
Bibcode
:
1964RSPTA.256..317P
.
doi
:
10.1098/rsta.1964.0008
.
S2CID
122241308
.
- ^
Pippard, A. B. (1955). "Trapped Flux in Superconductors".
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
.
248
(941): 97?129.
Bibcode
:
1955RSPTA.248...97P
.
doi
:
10.1098/rsta.1955.0011
.
S2CID
119893482
.
- ^
Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (1 December 1957).
"Theory of Superconductivity"
.
Physical Review
.
108
(5). American Physical Society (APS): 1175?1204.
Bibcode
:
1957PhRv..108.1175B
.
doi
:
10.1103/physrev.108.1175
.
ISSN
0031-899X
.
- ^
A.L. Fetter, and J. D. Walecka,
Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems
(Dover Publications, New York, 2003), Chapter 13,
Superconductivity
, Section 49,
London-Pippard Phenomenological Theory
;
ISBN
0-486-42827-3
- ^
A. B. Pippard,
Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics
(Cambridge University Press, 1957);
ISBN
0-521-09101-2
.
- ^
A. B. Pippard,
Dynamics of Conduction Electrons
, Documents on Modern Physics (Gordon & Beach, 1965).
- ^
A. B. Pippard,
The Physics of Vibration
(Cambridge University Press, 2007);
ISBN
0-521-03333-0
- ^
Laurie M. Brown,
Abraham Pais
, and Brian Pippard,
Twentieth Century Physics
(Institute of Physics Publishing, 1995): Vol. I;
ISBN
0-7503-0353-0
,
Vol. II;
ISBN
0-7503-0354-9
; Vol. III;
ISBN
0-7503-0355-7
- ^
A.B. Pippard,
Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics
(Pamphlet) (Cambridge University Press, 1962).
A.B. Pippard,
Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics
(Pamphlet), 64 p. (Cambridge University Press, 1971)
- ^
Josephson, B.D. (1962). "Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling".
Physics Letters
.
1
(7). Elsevier BV: 251?253.
Bibcode
:
1962PhL.....1..251J
.
doi
:
10.1016/0031-9163(62)91369-0
.
ISSN
0031-9163
.
Obituaries
[
edit
]
- Anthony Tucker,
Sir Brian Pippard
, The Guardian, Wednesday, 25 September 2008,
[1]
.
- John Waldram,
Professor Sir Brian Pippard (1920?2008)
, News and Events, University Offices, University of Cambridge, 24 September 2008,
[2]
.
- Professor Sir Brian Pippard (1920?2008)
, Cambridge Network, 25 September 2008,
[3]
(Reproduced from
University of Cambridge Office of Communications
).
- John Waldram,
Brian Pippard (1920?2008): Low-temperature physicist who excelled in subtle intuitive concepts
, Nature
455
, 1191 (30 October 2008),
[4]
.
- Professor Sir Brian Pippard
, Telegraph, 23 September 2008,
[5]
.
- Professor Sir Brian Pippard: Cambridge physicist
, The Times, 25 September 2008,
[6]
.
- Richard Eden
,
Professor Sir Brian Pippard: Physicist who proved the existence of the Fermi surface and was the first President of Clare Hall, Cambridge
, The Independent, Tuesday, 7 October 2008,
[7]
.
- Hamish Johnston,
Sir Brian Pippard: 1920?2008
, PhysicsWorld, 24 September 2008,
[8]
.
External links
[
edit
]
- The Cavendish Professorship of Physics
Archived
3 July 2013 at the
Wayback Machine
, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Department of Physics.
- The Brian Pippard Building, Cambridge
- Professor
George Zarnecki
,
Lives remembered: Professor George Zarnecki and Professor Sir Brian Pippard
, The Times, 27 September 2008,
[9]
.
- Professor Ernst Sondheimer,
Professor Sir Brian Pippard
, The Independent, Friday, 10 October 2008,
[10]
.
- Professor Sir Brian Pippard, President of CUMS, 7 September 1920 ? 21 September 2008
,
Cambridge University Musical Society
(CUMS) News, 25 September 2008,
[11]
Archived
26 November 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- Brian Pippard dies aged 88
,
Varsity
, 2008,
[12]
.
- Professor Pippard papers
HF/LEEWW: 2000.611
2000
, The National Archives,
[13]
.
Contents
: Typewritten manuscript by Professor Sir Brian Pippard entitled 'Reminiscences of Wartime Radar Research 1941?1945', together with three papers published in The Journal of The Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1946.
- interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 31 March 2008 (video)
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