The 2024 Chhabra-Landau Lecture

Nobel laureate, Professor J Michael Kosterlitz from Brown University presented his talk titled "Wavelength Selection by Additive Stochastic Noise in a Driven Out of Equilibrium System" In-person and Online.

The 2024 Chhabra-Landau Lecture takes place on March 14 at 3:55-4:55 PM in the Physics Auditorium (Rm. 202) and virtually on Zoom. Our guest speaker is Professor J Michael Kosterlitz from the Physics Department at Brown University. 

About the Speaker, Professor J Michael Kosterlitz:

Professor J Michael Kosterlitz

Prof. J Michael Kosterlitz is the Harrison E. Farnsworth Professor of Physics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island where he has been since 1982. He received his bachelor's and master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and in 1969 he earned a D.Phil. degree from the University of Oxford. He had a fellowship at the Istituto di Fisica Teorica in Turin, Italy, from 1969 to 1970 and was a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK from 1970 to 1973.

 He spent one year as a postdoctoralfellow at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, from 1973 to 1974, before returning to Birmingham. He remained thereuntil 1982 when he became a professor of physics at Brown University. Prof. J Michael Kosterlitz won the 2016 Nobel Prize for work on condensed matter Physics with the citation "For theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”. In 2017, he became a Member of the National Academy of Science. He enjoys doing research in condensed matter theory, one- and two- dimensonal physics; in phase transitions: random systems, electron localization, and spin glasses; and in critical dynamics: melting and freezing. His present interest is in the evolution of driven out-of- equilibrium systems.About The Chhabra-Landau Lecture Series:

The Chhabra-Landau Lecture Series celebrates Professor David P. Landau’s pioneering work in applying Monte Carlo computer simulations. This work deepens our understanding of phase transitions and, more generally, condensed matter physics.

The Series also celebrates the role Professor Landau played in founding the Center for Simulational Physicsat UGA, and building a diverse and welcoming community of students at the Center. The Series focuses on the deep connection between physics and computer science, particularly the use of computing or information theoretic ideas, as fundamental tools for physicists to develop novel insights about our world.

The Chhabra-Landau Lecture Series has been endowed by Dr. Ashvin B. Chhabra (MS Physics, UGA 1984; PhD Applied Physics, Yale 1989) in honor of his thesis advisor, Professor Landau, and acknowledges the hospitality and friendship the faculty and students of UGA accorded Dr. Chhabra when he first came to Athens from overseas as a graduate student.

The Chhabra-Landau Lecture Series is an annual event.

Dr. Chhabra honoring Dr. Landau at the Inaugural Chhabra-Landau Lecture in 2019.

Professor David P. Landau:

Prof. David P. Landau is Distinguished Research Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for Simulational Physics at the University of Georgia. Prof. Landau received the Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics from the American Physical Society (APS).

In 1987, Prof. Landau created a workshop series in Simulational Physics, and helped initiate similar series in Brazil and China. For his external activities, he received the APS Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach. He was Chair of the Division of Computational Physics (DCOMP) of the APS and Chair of the IUP AP International Conference on Computational Physics CCP1999.

Prof. Landau has been named a Fellow of the APS; the Senior Guangbiao Distinguished Professor at Zhejiang University, China; Adjunct Professor at Aalto University in Finland; and MAINZ Visiting Professor in Germany. He is a (Foreign) Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and received a Doctor Honoris Causa from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil. He was Chair of the IUPAP C20 Commission on Computational Physics and is currently Chair of the U.S. Liaison Committee from the National Academy to IUPAP.

Professor Landau received his Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University in 1967.

Dr. Ashvin Chhabra:

Dr. Ashvin B. Chhabra is President of Euclidean Capital, which is responsible for the management of investments for James H. Simons & Marilyn Simons and their associated foundations. Dedicated to advancing research in basic science and mathematics, the Simons Foundation is currently one of America’s two or three largest private funders of these areas. Dr. Chhabra was Chief Investment Officer and Head of investment management and guidance at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management from 2013-2015. He was the Chief Investment Officer at the Institute for Advanced Study from 2007-2013 and Managing Director and head of wealth management strategies and analytics for Merrill Lynch’s Global Private Client Group from 2001-2007. Prior to that, he was head of quantitative research at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. He is also the author of The Aspirational Investor (Harper Collins, 2015). Dr. Chhabra is widely recognized as one of the founders of goals-based wealth management and for his seminal work “Beyond Markowitz” which proposes a novel Wealth Allocation framework.

Dr. Chhabra received an M.S. in Physics from the University of Georgia, performing very high-quality Monte Carlo simulations of models of kinetic gelation. He holds a PhD in applied physics from Yale University in the field of non-linear dynamics.