Gordon Walter Semenoff

Gordon Walter Semenoff is a theoretical physicist and Professor of Physics at University of British Columbia. He is known for his research on quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and string theory and is particularly famous for his co-invention, together with Antti Niemi, of the parity anomaly in odd-dimensional gauge field theories^[1] and for his pioneering work on graphene.^[2] He is also well-known for development of thermal field theory,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} the application of index theorems and their generalizations in quantum field theory^[8] and string theory, particularly with respect to the duality between string theories and gauge field theories^[9][10]

Education and Career

Gordon Walter Semenoff was born on July 11, 1953 in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada where he attended Matthew Halton High School, graduating in the Class of 1971. After completing Bachelor of Science (1976) and Doctor of Philosophy (1981) Degrees at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, Gordon spent one year, 1981–1982, as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta and a subsequent year, 1982–1983, as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Theoretical Physics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1983 he was appointed a University Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia and has spent the remainder of his career to date at that institution, being promoted to Full Professor in 1990. He has held a number of prestigious visiting appointments, including membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey in 1984, 1985 and 2000, and visiting professorships at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland in 1986, Hokkaido University in Hokkaido, Japan in 1989, the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1989 and 1999, Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden in 2000, the Institut Henri Poincare in Paris, France in 2001 and 2011, the Institut des Hautes Etudes (IHES) in Bures sur Yvette, France in 2005 and 2006, the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, U.K. in 2007 and the University of Tours in Tours, France in 2008.

Awards

• Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Lethbridge, Canada, 2011.
• Brockhouse Medal for Achievement in Condensed Matter and Material Physics (Canadian Association of Physicists) 2010.
• Majorana Prize (presented by Electronic Journal of Theoretical Physics) 2007.
• CAP/CRM Medal for Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 2000.
• Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2000.
• Macdowell Medal of the University of British Columbia in 1989.
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, 1989.
• Killam Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 1989.
• NSERC University Research Fellowship, 1983
• NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1982
• Alberta Graduate Fellowship 1980-1981.
• NSERC Postgraduate Fellowship 1976-1980.

References

1. ^ Axial Anomaly Induced Fermion Fractionization and Effective Gauge Theory Actions in Odd Dimensional Space-Times, A.J. Niemi and G.W. Semenoff, Physical Review Letters 51:2077, 1983.
2. ^ Condensed Matter Simulation Of A Three-Dimensional Anomaly. Gordon W. Semenoff, Physical Review Letters 53:2449, 1984.
3. ^ Finite Temperature Quantum Field Theory in Minkowski Space. A.J. Niemi, G.W. Semenoff, Annals of Physics 152:105, 1984.
4. ^ Thermodynamic Calculations in Relativistic Finite Temperature Quantum Field Theories. Antti J. Niemi, Gordon W. Semenoff, Nuclear Physics B230:181, 1984.
5. ^ Real Time Feynman Rules For Gauge Theories With Fermions At Finite Temperature And Density, Zeitschrift für Physik C 29:371, 1985.
6. ^ Discontinuities of Green Functions in Field Theory at Finite Temperature and Density. R.L. Kobes, G.W. Semenoff, Nuclear Physics B260:714-746, 1985.
7. ^ Discontinuities of Green Functions in Field Theory at Finite Temperature and Density. 2, R.L. Kobes, G.W. Semenoff, Nuclear Physics B272:329-364, 1986.
8. ^ Fermion Number Fractionization in Quantum Field Theory. A.J. Niemi, G.W. Semenoff, Physics Reports 135:99, 1986.
9. ^ Wilson loops in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, J.K. Erickson, G.W. Semenoff , K. Zarembo, Nuclear Physics B582:155-175, 2000.
10. ^ A New double scaling limit of N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and PP wave strings, C. Kristjansen, J. Plefka, G.W. Semenoff, M. Staudacher, Nuclear Physics B643:3-30, 2002.

External links

• Publications from Spires
• Web page at the University of British Columbia
• Citation for CAP/CRM prize
• Citation for Brockhouse Medal
• Perimeter Institute Affiliation
• Invited lectures and conference presentations
• A Nobel Connection
• Honorary Doctorate

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Name	Semenoff, Gordon
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Date of birth	1953
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