Oliver Penrose

Oliver Penrose
Born	24 February 1929 (1929-02-24) (age 82) Colchester, Essex, England
Residence	United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Fields	Physics
Alma mater	Open University Heriot-Watt University University College School
Notable students	Asghar Qadir
Known for	interpretations of quantum mechanics direction of time physical chemistry of surfactants, statistical mechanics, phase transitions
Notes He is the brother of Jonathan Penrose and Roger Penrose, and son of Lionel Penrose. He is the nephew of Roland Penrose.

Oliver Penrose FRS, FRSE (born 1929) is a British theoretical physicist.^[1]

He is the son of the scientist Lionel Penrose, brother of the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, and brother of chess master Jonathan Penrose.^[2][3] He was associated for seventeen years with the Open University, and was a Professor of Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh from 1986 until his retirement in 1994. He holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Heriot-Watt, and remains active in research there. His areas of interest include statistical mechanics,^[4] phase transitions in metals, and physical chemistry of surfactants. He is particularly known for the concept of off-diagonal long-range order, which is central to our present-day understanding of superfluids and superconductors. Other more abstract topics in which he has worked include understanding the physical basis for the direction of time and interpretations of quantum mechanics.^[5][6][7]

References

1. ^ "Notes", The rainbow and the worm: the physics of organisms by Mae-Wan Ho, World Scientific, 1998, Pg. 77
2. ^ "A Priviledged View of Scientific and Artistic Brilliance", Image processing III: mathematical methods, algorithms and applications by Jonathan M. Blackledge and Martin J. Turner, Horwood Publishing, 2001, Pg. 2
3. ^ "The Mandelbrot Set", Why Beliefs Matter: Reflections on the Nature of Science by E. Brian Davies, Oxford University Press, 2010, Pg. 119
4. ^ "Papers dedicated to Oliver Penrose on the occasion of his 65th birthday", Volume 77, Issues 1–2 of Journal of statistical physics
5. ^ "Quantum Mechanics and Real Events", Quantum chaos—quantum measurement by Predrag Cvitanović, Ian Percival, Andreas Wirzba and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Scientific Affairs Division, Springer, 1992, Pg. 257
6. ^ "Maxwell's demon 2: entropy, classical and quantum information, computing" by Harvey S. Leff and Andrew F. Rex, CRC Press, 2003
7. ^ "The physical review—the first hundred years:" a selection of seminal papers and commentaries, Volume 1 by H. Henry Stroke, Springer, 1995

External links

• Oliver Penrose's homepage at Heriot-Watt University

Persondata
Name	Penrose, Oliver
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	24 February 1929
Place of birth	Colchester, Essex, England
Date of death
Place of death