Prize Recipient

Rodney J. Baxter
Australian National University

Citation:

"For his original and groundbreaking contributions to the field of exactly solved models in statistical mechanics, which continue to inspire profound developments in statistical physics and related fields."

Background:

Date of birth: 8 February 1940, London, England.

Degrees: BA Cambridge, England 1961;
                PhD The Australian National University
                ScD, Cambridge, England 1984

Employment: Iraq Petroleum Company, London, 1964-1965; Assistant Professor, MIT, Massachusetts, 1968-1970; Australian National University, 1970-2002.

Research successes: In 1971 I used the "star-triangle" relation to calculate the free energy of the eight-vertex model, and went on to similarly solve the hard-hexagon (1980) and chiral Potts (1988) models. I developed the "corner transfer matrix" method for calculating the order parameters of the eight-vertex and similar models. In 2005 I was able to use the method of Jimbo, Miwa and Nakayashiki to verify Albertini, McCoy, Perk and Tang's conjecture for the order parameter of the chiral Potts model.

Awards and honours: Pawsey Medal, Australian Academy of Science, 1975
                                     Boltzmann Medal, IUPAP, 1980
                                      Lyle Medal, Australian Academy of Science, 1983
                                     Dannie Heineman Prize, American Physical Society, 1987
                                     Massey Medal, Insitute of Physics and Australian Institute of Physics, 1994
                                     Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, 1977
                                     Fellow of the Royal Society of London, 1982
                                     Centenary Medal, Australian Government, 2003
                                     Lars Onsager Prize, American Physical Society, 2006

Selection Committee:

Jason Ho (Chair), Guenter Ahlers (12/05), Valery Pokrovsky ('05 winner)(12/05), Dan Stein (V. Chair)(12/06), Andrea Liu (12/06)