Claude Georges Itzykson | |
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Born | Paris, France | 11 April 1938
Died | 22 May 1995 Paris, France | (aged 57)
Nationality | French |
Education | Lycée Condorcet |
Alma mater | |
Known for | |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
Claude Georges Itzykson, (11 April 1938 – 22 May 1995) was a French theoretical physicist who worked in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics.[1][2]
Separated from his parents by World War II, his father was taken to a Nazi concentration camp and Itzykson is raised in a Jewish orphanage in Maisons-Laffitte.[2] After studying at the Lycée Condorcet Itzykson graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1959. He joined the Theoretical Physics Department of the CEA in Saclay in 1962,[1] then headed by Claude Bloch.[2] He spent most of his career at Saclay, except for numerous visiting positions he held throughout his working life, such as at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.[1][3]
He was a specialist in quantum field theory and applications of group theory in physics.[4] In particular, he worked on the symmetries of the hydrogen atom,[5] the discretization of network gauge theories,[6] the integrals on large matrices[7] and their applications to problems of combinatorics[8] and physics of random surfaces,[9] and conformal field theories and their classification.[10]
His first works were done in collaboration with Maurice Jacob and Raymond Stora.[2] In 1980 he published a treatise on quantum field theory with Jean-Bernard Zuber that became a staple textbook on the subject.[1][11]
In 1995 Itzykson received the Ampère Prize of the French Academy of Sciences.[2]