Critical Pointjoel's Conference
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Comment: Robert P Crease physicsworld.com Critical Point Joel’s conference Robert P Crease attends a group supplied a physical/mathematical understanding of phase transitions and meeting that’s extraordinary scaling, which strengthened the difference for its diversity, longevity, between the mathematical side of statistical mechanics – involving exactly solvable mod- impact and, above all, the els – and its physical side, allied with experi- mentation. The renormalization group also character of its organizer provided calculational techniques for scal- ing non-equilibrium systems that helped Just as it had on the previous 115 occasions, give statistical mechanics a broader range the event opened with a bell carried by of applications. Lebowitz’s inclusive confer- Joel Lebowitz. The 86-year-old physicist, ences embraced a spectrum of them. often fondly called “the soul of statisti- At the December 2016 meeting, for cal mechanics”, strode through the lobby instance, invited talks were given on statis- of the Hill Center at Rutgers University’s tical mechanics-related aspects of earth- Busch campus in New Jersey, clanging the quakes, superconductors, liquid crystals, bell to summon the animated coffee drink- swimming particles, number theory, HIV, ers to the lecture hall. The 116th Statisti- Master of the meeting Joel Lebowitz has run the quantum mechanics and nacre – the beau- cal Mechanics Conference, held on 16–18 Statistical Mechanics Conference since 1959. tiful iridescent material on the inside of December last year, was about to begin. certain molluscs. The spirit of the original Lebowitz’s biannual conferences are University in Manhattan in the autumn of Yeshiva format was retained in a morn- remarkable not only for their longevity – 1959. Talks were limited to five minutes and ing session of five-minute talks on the they have run since 1959 – but also for their anyone who wanted could give one. behaviour of everything from electrons to egalitarianism and diversity. What’s more, “Joel’s conferences were no-frills, geared microbes. As always, anyone who wanted the meetings, along with the Journal of Sta- for locals and on a single day,” recalls to could give one of these talks, as long as tistical Physics that Lebowitz has edited for Pierre Hohenberg, a physicist then at Bell you didn’t use Vugraphs or PowerPoint and the past 40 years, have helped the field of Labs. “You took the subway, no accommo- erased the blackboard afterwards. statistical mechanics to survive the forces dation, no invited speakers, no Vugraphs Lebowitz introduced each speaker, threatening to fragment it into subfields. [plastic sheets on which one could print or asked pointed questions and when speakers write and display with the aid of an over- exceeded the allotted time, stood up and Lebowitz: a life head projector] and no food. They brought smiled until his genially expressed moral Born in 1930 in a small town in what was together a broad cross-section of the com- authority brought them to a halt. “It’s a one- then Czechoslovakia, Lebowitz’s native munity and were how you kept up on the man show, yet democratic and egalitarian,” tongue was Yiddish. Life was tough in a field.” Between 50 and 100 people would Nihat Berker, an emeritus professor at the Jewish community in this part of the world, attend in the early years. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told but grew grimmer after the German occu- In 1977 Lebowitz moved to Rutgers. me. “You don’t often see that.” pation during the Second World War. Leb- Many regular attendees were horrified: One talk is always devoted to human owitz’s family was sent to Auschwitz; only Rutgers was in the New Jersey country- rights; this time Lebowitz gave it him- Joel – then aged 15 – survived. Thanks to a side, you needed a car to get there and you self. “These are not good days for human project to help orphaned children headed had to stay overnight in a dilapidated hotel. rights,” he warned, mentioning recent cases by Eleanor Roosevelt, Lebowitz obtained a Afraid the conferences would lose either involving individuals in Iran, the US, Egypt, visa to the US. He graduated from Brook- their informal character or their audience, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. lyn College in 1952, and was introduced to Hohenberg and others lobbied to continue statistical mechanics, getting his PhD in the conferences at Yeshiva. Instead, Leb- The critical point physics from Syracuse University in 1956. owitz rethought it. Lebowitz’s meetings are ideal for our Outgoing and unflappable, Lebowitz He added invited speakers and celebra- modern world, where researchers want to readily collected friends. One was an artist tions of senior leaders in the field. If people communicate their results and learn new and teacher named Kate Millett, who later stayed over, it might as well be a two-day ones – fast. Indeed, the standard scientific- became a famous feminist author. In her (eventually three-day) conference. Ameni- conference format of concurrent sessions 1974 memoir Flying, Millett refers to Leb- ties included meals and musical events. of PowerPoint-driven papers seems to owitz under the pseudonym Jacob, describ- Finally, he flirted with formality by allow- me obsolete. Joel’s conference offers one ing him as “a charming Slavic soul with an ing Rutgers attendees to use Vugraphs. successful alternative; the Gordon con- insatiable taste for women and a tattoo on “That was a big ideological transition,” ferences, which have many imitators, are his arm from Auschwitz”. Hohenberg told me. another. These reveal not only the contin- In 1959, while at Stevens University of But Lebowitz continued to ensure that uing value of conferences in an electronic Technology in New Jersey, Lebowitz hosted the conferences reflected the field’s diver- age but also the importance of leadership his first informal conference on statistical sity. At the start of his career, statistical for creating a truly effective meeting. mechanics. It was well received; the only mechanics was mainly concerned with alternatives, he told me at the most recent effects on equilibrium processes in micro- Robert P Crease is a professor in the Department event, were formal conferences. Lebowitz scopic systems and scientists had only a of Philosophy, Stony Brook University, US. continued the meetings, twice-yearly in May data-driven grasp of phase transitions. The He is the co-author of The Quantum Moment, and December, after moving to Yeshiva 1970s development of the renormalization e-mail [email protected] 18 Physics World February 2017 http://www.springer.com/journal/10955.