Nigel D. Goldenfeld (1957-) | University of Illinois Archives
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Nigel Goldenfeld (1957-) became an assistant professor at the University of Illinois in 1985, an associate professor in 1991, and a full professor of physics in 1995. In 2013 he was elected as a Swanlund Endowed Chair and a Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics. He was also a member of the Department of Physics Condensed Matter Theory group, lead the Biocomplexity Theme at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and directed the NASA Astrobiology Institute for Universal Biology at the University of Illinois. Some of Goldenfeld’s research interests include pattern forming systems, condensed matter physics, polymers and liquid crystals, high temperature superconductivity, and evolutionary biology.
Nigel Goldenfeld was born May 1, 1957. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cambridge University (1982) and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1982-1985. Goldenfeld began working at the University of Illinois in 1985 and has taken sabbatical positions at Stanford University and the University of Cambridge. In 2021 he accepted a position at University of California, San Diego, where he is currently employed. Goldenfeld authored the widely used graduate textbook “Lectures on Phase Transitions and the Renormalization Group”, and is the co-founder of Numerix (1996), a company that develops analytics and software for buyside market participants.
Some of Goldenfeld’s many accolades include: Infosys-ICTS Chandrasekhar Lectures, Bangalore (2020), American Physical Society Leo P. Kadanoff Prize (2020), Primakoff Lecture, University of Pennsylvania (2020), APS Outstanding Referee (2019), Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Crucker Eminent Faculty Award, UIUC (2017), Elected Fellow of Institute of Physics, UK (2011), Elected Member, US National Academy of Sciences (2010), Swanlund Endowed Chair (2007), Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (1995), and the Xerox Award for Research (1991).