Joel Lebowitz
{{Short description|Czechoslovakian–US mathematical physicist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Joel Lebowitz
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| image = Lebowitz, Joel (1930)2.jpeg
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| caption = Lebowitz at Oberwolfach, 2004
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1930|5|10}}
| birth_place = Tiachiv, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine)
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| citizenship = American
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| workplaces = Rutgers University
Yeshiva University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Yale University
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| alma_mater = Brooklyn College
Syracuse University
| thesis_title = Statistical Mechanics of Nonequilibrium Processes.
| thesis_url = https://catalog.syr.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=2081447
| thesis_year = 1956
| doctoral_advisor = Peter G. Bergmann
| academic_advisors = Lars Onsager
| doctoral_students = Michael Aizenman
Sheldon Goldstein
| notable_students = :de:Detlef Dürr
| known_for = Statistical Physics
Statistical mechanics
| influences =
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| awards = Boltzmann Medal (1992)
Henri Poincaré Prize (2000)
Nicholson Medal (2004)
Max Planck Medal (2007)
Grande Médaille (2014)
Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (2021)
Dirac Medal (ICTP) (2022)
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| website = {{URL|https://cmsr.rutgers.edu/people-cmsr/joel-lebowitz}}
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File:Joel Lebowitz and Mitchell J. Feigenbaum, Brussels 1998.jpg (right) (1998)]]
Joel Louis Lebowitz (born May 10, 1930) is a mathematical physicist known for his contributions to statistical physics, statistical mechanics, and many other fields of mathematics and physics.{{cite web |title=Lebowitz, Joel Louis, 1930– |url=https://history.aip.org/phn/11605002.html |website=history.aip.org |publisher=American Institute of Physics |access-date=April 30, 2021}} He is a founding editor of the Journal of Statistical Physics and has served as president of the New York Academy of Sciences. Lebowitz is the George William Hill Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Rutgers University. He is also an active member of the human rights community and a co-chair of the Committee of Concerned Scientists.[http://www.libertynet.org/ccs/leaders.htm Committee of Concerned Scientists, Leadership List] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626191304/http://www.libertynet.org/ccs/leaders.htm |date=June 26, 2008 }}. Committee of Concerned Scientists. Accessed June 28, 2008.
Biography
Lebowitz was born in 1930 to a Jewish family in Taceva, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine). During World War II he was deported with his family to Auschwitz, where his father, his mother, and his younger sister were killed in 1944 as a result of the Holocaust.
After being liberated from the camp, he emigrated to the United States by boat, where he studied at an Orthodox Jewish school and Brooklyn College. He earned his PhD at Syracuse University in 1956 under the supervision of Peter G. Bergmann.{{cite news |last1=Enslin |first1=Rob |title=A Moral Vision of Science: Physicist Joel L. Lebowitz G'55, G'56, H'12 Believes Science and Morality are Inextricably Linked |url=https://news.syr.edu/blog/2018/11/29/a-moral-vision-of-science-physicist-joel-l-lebowitz-g55-g56-h12-believes-science-and-morality-are-inextricably-linked/ |access-date=April 29, 2021 |work= SU News |date=November 29, 2018}}
He then continued his research with Lars Onsager, at Yale University, where he attained a faculty position. He moved to the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1957 and to the Belfer Graduate School of Science at Yeshiva University in New York City in 1959. Finally, he received a faculty position at Rutgers University in 1977, where he holds the George William Hill Professor position.
During his time at the Yeshiva University and Rutgers University, he has been in contact with several scientists, and artists, like Fumio Yoshimura and Kate Millett. In 1975 he founded the Journal of Statistical Physics. In 1979 he was president of the New York Academy of Sciences. He has been one of the most active supporters of dissident scientists in the former Soviet Union, especially refusenik scientists.
Scientific legacy
Along with Elliott Lieb, Lebowitz proved that the Coulomb interactions obey the thermodynamic limit. He also established what are now known as Lebowitz inequalities for the ferromagnetic Ising model. His current research interests lie in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
He became editor-in-chief of the Journal of Statistical Physics in 1975, and held the position until September 2018. Lebowitz hosts a biannual series of conferences,{{Cite web |url=http://www.math.rutgers.edu/events/smm/index.html |title=Statistical Mechanics Conference |access-date=July 31, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616044131/http://www.math.rutgers.edu/events/smm/index.html |archive-date=June 16, 2008 |url-status=dead }} first at Yeshiva University and later at Rutgers University, which has been running for 60 years. He is also known as a co-editor of an influential review series, Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena.
Awards and honors
Lebowitz has been awarded: the Boltzmann Medal (1992);{{Cite web |url=http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~statphys/links/IUPAP_C3/Boltz_Award/BA1992.html |title=The Boltzmann Award 1992 |access-date=October 7, 2006 |archive-date=August 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812080628/https://www.sinica.edu.tw/~statphys/links/IUPAP_C3/Boltz_Award/BA1992.html |url-status=dead }} the Nicholson Medal (2004) awarded by the American Physical Society;{{Cite web |title=Dwight Nicholson Medal for Outreach |url=https://www.aps.org/funding-recognition/award/dwight-nicholson-medal#:~:text=meetings%20and%20workshops.-,Joel%20L.%20Lebowitz,-2004%20recipient |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=www.aps.org |language=en}} the Delmer S. Fahrney Medal (1995); the Henri Poincaré Prize (2000);{{cite news |title=Laudatio for Joel L. Lebowitz by David Ruelle (IHES, Paris) |url=http://www.iamp.org/poincare/jl00-laud.html |access-date=April 29, 2021 |work=www.iamp.org}} the Volterra Award (2001);{{Cite web |last=Kujan |first=Stephen L. |title=Joel Lebowitz has won the 2001 Volterra Award of the Academia Lincea in Rome |url=https://physics.rutgers.edu/news/news-archive/2001-news/joel-lebowitz-has-won-the-2001-volterra-award-of-the-academia-lincea-in-rome |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Department of Physics and Astronomy {{!}} Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey |language=en-gb}} and the Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (2021){{Cite web |date=2020-10-07 |title=Joel L. Lebowitz Honored With 2021 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics - AIP.ORG |url=https://ww2.aip.org/news/joel-l-lebowitz-honored-2021-dannie-heineman-prize-mathematical-physics |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=AIP |language=en}} "for seminal contributions to nonequilibrium and equilibrium statistical mechanics, in particular, studies of large deviations in nonequilibrium steady states and rigorous analysis of Gibbs equilibrium ensembles."{{Citation | title = APS Heineman Prize Announcement| year = 2020| url = https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?first_nm=Joel&last_nm=Lebowitz&year=2021}}
Lebowitz was awarded the Max Planck Medal in 2007, "for his important contributions to the statistical physics of equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems, in particular his contributions to the theory of phase transitions, the dynamics of infinite systems, and the stationary non-equilibrium states" and "for his promoting of new directions of this field at its farthest front, and for enthusiastically introducing several generations of scientists to the field."[http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/physicsnews/news.shtml#lebowitz06 Rutgers Physics News]{{Citation | title = Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, Pressemitteilung | year = 2006 | url = http://www.dpg-physik.de/presse/pressemit/2006/dpg-pm-2006-029.html | access-date = August 18, 2009 | archive-date = December 30, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071230004434/http://www.dpg-physik.de/presse/pressemit/2006/dpg-pm-2006-029.html/ | url-status = dead }} In 2014 he received the Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences.[http://www.academie-sciences.fr/presse/communique/grandemedaille_2014.pdf Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006082422/http://www.academie-sciences.fr/presse/communique/grandemedaille_2014.pdf |date=October 6, 2014 }} In 2022, he was awarded the Dirac Medal of the ICTP.[https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/media-centre/news/2022/8/2022-dirac-medal-winners-announced.aspx Dirac Medal 2022 (ICTP)]
Lebowitz is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 1966, he became a fellow of the American Physical Society[https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=L&year=2020&unit_id=&institution=-list List of Fellows of the American Physical Society]. and in 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.[https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society], retrieved January 27, 2013.
He received an honorary DS degree at Syracuse University's 158th Commencement in 2012.{{cite news |title=Lebowitz, Moore, Schramm and Sorkin to receive Syracuse University honorary degrees |url=https://news.syr.edu/blog/2012/04/09/lebowitz-moore-schramm-and-sorkin-to-receive-syracuse-university-honorary-degrees/ |access-date=April 29, 2021 |work=SU News |date=April 9, 2012}}
References
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External links
{{commons category}}
- {{Official|https://www.math.rutgers.edu/component/comprofiler/userprofile/lebowitz}}
- [http://www.iamp.org/poincare/jl00-laud.html Laudatio for Joel L. Lebowitz by David Ruelle (IHES, Paris) at the Poincaré Prize Ceremony (2000)]
- {{MathGenealogy |id=5946}}
- {{cite web | title=Oral History Interview: Joel Lebowitz | website=American Institute of Physics | date=March 21, 2023 | url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/47532 | access-date=November 29, 2023}}
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Category:Mathematical physicists
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:Rutgers University faculty
Category:Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
Category:Brooklyn College alumni
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society