Sam Edwards (physicist)

Samuel Frederick Edwards
Born	1 February 1928 Swansea
Nationality	British
Fields	physics
Institutions	University of Cambridge
Alma mater	University of Cambridge Harvard University
Doctoral students	Elliott H. Lieb
Known for	path integral methods physics of disordered systems
Notable awards	Davy Medal (1984) Boltzmann medal (1995) Royal Medal (2001) Dirac Medal (2005)

Sir Samuel Frederick Edwards FLSW FRS (born 1 February 1928) is a British physicist.

Early life and studies

Sir Samuel was born on 1 February 1928 in Swansea, the son of Richard and Mary Jane Edwards.

He was educated at the Bishop Gore School in Swansea, and Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, the University of Manchester in Britain, and at Harvard University, in the United States. He wrote his thesis under Julian Schwinger on the structure of the electron, and subsequently developed the functional integral form of field theory.

Academic research

Edwards' work in condensed matter physics started in 1958 with a paper which showed that statistical properties of disordered systems (glasses, gels etc.) could be described by the Feynman diagram and path integral methods invented in quantum field theory. During the following 35 years Edwards has worked in the theoretical study of complex materials, such as polymers, gels, colloids and similar systems.

He was Chairman of the Science Research Council 1973-1977 and between 1984-1995 was Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge University. He is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists[1] and Past President of Cambridge Society for the Application of Research.

Edwards was knighted in 1975. Awards presented to him include the Davy Medal (1984) and the Royal Medal (2001) of the Royal Society, the Boltzmann medal of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (1995), and the Dirac Medal of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (2005). He is also a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and he holds an honorary degree (Doctor of Science) from the University of Bath (1978).

Personal life

In 1953 Sir Sam married Merriell E.M. Bland, with whom he has three daughters and a son.

His relaxations are gardening and chamber music.

References

• Paul M. Goldbart and Nigel Goldenfeld, David Sherrington (eds.) (2004). "Stealing the gold: a celebration of the pioneering physics of Sam Edwards". Oxford: OUP. ISBN 0-19-852853-1. 
• Edwards, S.F. (1958). "A new method for the evaluation of electric conductivity in metals" (PDF). Philosophical Magazine 3 (33): 1020–1031. Bibcode:1958PMag....3.1020E. doi:10.1080/14786435808243244.  (together with contents pages for the above book).
• "International Who's Who"

External links

• Sam Edwards' Website