Prize Recipient

Michael E. Fisher
University of Maryland

"For his numerous and seminal contributions to statistical mechanics, including but not restricted to the theory of phase transitions and critical phenomena, scaling laws, critical exponents, finite size effects, and the application of the renormalization group to many of the above problems."

Born in Trinidad, West Indies, Fisher received his Ph D in physics from the University of London's Kings College in 1957. He was appointed to the faculty as a lecturer the following year, becoming a full professor in 1965. In 1966 he moved to Cornell University where he became professor of chemistry, physics, and mathematics, chairing the chemistry department from 1975 to 1978. Since 1987 he has been at the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland where he is currently Distinguished University Professor and Regents professor. He is a past recipient of the APS Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics, among other honors.