Brian Pippard

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Sir
Brian Pippard
FRS
1st President of Clare Hall, Cambridge
In office
1966–1973
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded bySir Robert Honeycombe
Personal details
BornAlfred Brian Pippard
(1920-09-07)7 September 1920
London, England
Died21 September 2008(2008-09-21) (aged 88)
Cambridge, England
Parent
EducationClare College, Cambridge (grad. 1941, 1947)
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge
David Shoenberg[1]
Doctoral students

Sir Alfred Brian Pippard (7 September 1920 – 21 September 2008) was a British physicist. He was Cavendish Professor of Physics from 1971 to 1982, and an Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, of which he was the first president.

Biography

Alfred Brian Pippard was born on 7 September 1920 in London, the son of engineer Alfred John Sutton Pippard.[2] Pippard was educated at Clifton College,[3] before gaining a scholarship in 1937 to attend Clare College, Cambridge, where he graduated with First Class Honours in Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1941.[4]

After working as a scientific officer in radar research during World War II, Pippard received his Ph.D. in 1947,[1] and was subsequently appointed Demonstrator in Physics at the University of Cambridge. He successively became Lecturer in 1950, Reader in 1959, and the first John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Physics the following year. In 1971, he was elected Cavendish Professor of Physics.[5]

As Cavendish Professor of Physics, Pippard compiled Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics,[6] based in large part on past examination questions for Cambridge physics students.

Pippard was the doctoral advisor of Brian Josephson (awarded Ph.D. in Physics in 1964) who in 1973 received the Nobel Prize in Physics (together with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever) for his discovery of what is known as the Josephson effect.[7]

Research

Pippard demonstrated the reality, as opposed to the mere abstract concept, of Fermi surfaces in metals by establishing the shape of the Fermi surface of copper through measuring the reflection and absorption of microwave electromagnetic radiation[8] (see the anomalous skin effect[9]). He also introduced the notion of coherence length in superconductors in his proposal for the non-local generalisation of the London equations[10][11] concerning electrodynamics in superfluids and superconductors. The non-local kernel proposed by Pippard,[12][13][14] inferred on the basis of Chambers' non-local generalisation of Ohm's law) can be deduced within the framework of the BCS (Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer) theory of superconductivity[15] (a comprehensive description of the details of the London–Pippard theory can be found in the book by Fetter and Walecka[16]).

Pippard was the author of Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics,[17] Dynamics of Conduction Electrons,[18] and The Physics of Vibration.[19] He also co-authored the three-volumes encyclopaedia Twentieth Century Physics.[20]

Recognition

Memberships

Year Organisation Type Ref.
1956 United Kingdom Royal Society Fellow [21]
1970 United States American Academy of Arts and Sciences International Honorary Member [22]

Awards

Year Organisation Award Citation Ref.
1959 United Kingdom Royal Society Hughes Medal "For his distinguished contributions in the field of low temperature physics." [23]
1961
Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize — [24]
1969 West Germany Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Dannie Heineman Prize "For his work on the dynamics of conduction electrons in metals, in particular the measurement of the Fermi surface of copper and the non-local extension of London’s electrodynamics of the superconductor." [25]
2005 Norway NTNU Onsager Medal — [26]

Chivalric titles

Year Head of state Title Ref.
1975 United Kingdom Elizabeth II Knight Bachelor [27]

References

  1. "A. Brian (Alfred) Pippard". Mathematics Genealogy Project. North Dakota State University. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  2. Longair, Malcolm S. "Pippard, Sir (Alfred) Brian". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/99761. Retrieved 28 October 2024. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  3. "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p464: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
  4. Longair, M. S.; Waldram, J. R. (2009). "Sir Alfred Brian Pippard. 7 September 1920 -- 21 September 2008". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 55: 201–220. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2009.0014.
  5. "PIPPARD, Prof. Sir (Alfred) Brian". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2019 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. A.B. Pippard, Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics (Pamphlet) (Cambridge University Press, 1962).
    A.B. Pippard, Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics (Pamphlet), 64 p. (Cambridge University Press, 1971)
  7. Josephson, B.D. (1962). "Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling". Physics Letters. 1 (7). Elsevier BV: 251–253. Bibcode:1962PhL.....1..251J. doi:10.1016/0031-9163(62)91369-0. ISSN 0031-9163.
  8. Pippard, A. B. (1957). "An Experimental Determination of the Fermi Surface in Copper". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 250 (979): 325–357. Bibcode:1957RSPTA.250..325P. doi:10.1098/rsta.1957.0023. S2CID 120993464.
  9. N. W. Ashcroft, and N. D. Mermin, Solid State Physics (Thompson Learning, Inc., London, 1976), Chapter 14, Measuring the Fermi Surface, p. 277, Anomalous Skin Effect; ISBN 0-03-083993-9. See Classical skin depth.
  10. Zhou, Shu-Ang (1991). Electrodynamic Theory of Superconductors. London: Peter Peregrinus Ltd. ISBN 0-86341-257-2.
  11. F. London, Superfluids, Vol. I: Macroscopic Theory of Superconductivity (Dover Publications, New York, 1961), p. 152.
  12. Waldram, J. R.; Pippard, A. B.; Clarke, J. (1970). "Theory of the Current-Voltage Characteristics of SNS Junctions and other Superconducting Weak Links". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 268 (1188): 265–287. Bibcode:1970RSPTA.268..265W. doi:10.1098/rsta.1970.0075. S2CID 122559890.
  13. Pippard, A. B. (1964). "Quantization of Coupled Orbits in Metals II. The Two-Dimensional Network, with Special Reference to the Properties of Zinc". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 256 (1072): 317–355. Bibcode:1964RSPTA.256..317P. doi:10.1098/rsta.1964.0008. S2CID 122241308.
  14. Pippard, A. B. (1955). "Trapped Flux in Superconductors". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 248 (941): 97–129. Bibcode:1955RSPTA.248...97P. doi:10.1098/rsta.1955.0011. S2CID 119893482.
  15. Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (1 December 1957). "Theory of Superconductivity". Physical Review. 108 (5). American Physical Society (APS): 1175–1204. Bibcode:1957PhRv..108.1175B. doi:10.1103/physrev.108.1175. ISSN 0031-899X.
  16. A.L. Fetter, and J. D. Walecka, Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems (Dover Publications, New York, 2003), Chapter 13, Superconductivity, Section 49, London-Pippard Phenomenological Theory; ISBN 0-486-42827-3
  17. A. B. Pippard, Elements of Classical Thermodynamics for Advanced Students of Physics (Cambridge University Press, 1957); ISBN 0-521-09101-2.
  18. A. B. Pippard, Dynamics of Conduction Electrons, Documents on Modern Physics (Gordon & Beach, 1965).
  19. A. B. Pippard, The Physics of Vibration (Cambridge University Press, 2007); ISBN 0-521-03333-0
  20. Laurie M. Brown, Abraham Pais, and Brian Pippard, Twentieth Century Physics (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1995): Vol. I; ISBN 0-7503-0353-0, Vol. II; ISBN 0-7503-0354-9; Vol. III; ISBN 0-7503-0355-7
  21. "Search Results". catalogues.royalsociety.org. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  22. "Alfred Brian Pippard". www.amacad.org. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  23. "Hughes Medal". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  24. "Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize recipients". Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 4 October 2025. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  25. "Dannie Heineman Prize". adw-goe.de. Archived from the original on 31 October 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  26. "The Lars Onsager Lecture". www.ntnu.edu. Archived from the original on 2 February 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  27. "No. 46593". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 1975. p. 7370.

Obituaries

  • Anthony Tucker, Sir Brian Pippard, The Guardian, Wednesday, 25 September 2008, .
  • John Waldram, Professor Sir Brian Pippard (1920–2008), News and Events, University Offices, University of Cambridge, 24 September 2008, .
  • Professor Sir Brian Pippard (1920–2008), Cambridge Network, 25 September 2008, (Reproduced from University of Cambridge Office of Communications).
  • John Waldram, Brian Pippard (1920–2008): Low-temperature physicist who excelled in subtle intuitive concepts, Nature 455, 1191 (30 October 2008), .
  • Professor Sir Brian Pippard, Telegraph, 23 September 2008, .
  • Professor Sir Brian Pippard: Cambridge physicist, The Times, 25 September 2008, .
  • Richard Eden, Professor Sir Brian Pippard: Physicist who proved the existence of the Fermi surface and was the first President of Clare Hall, Cambridge, The Independent, Tuesday, 7 October 2008, .
  • Hamish Johnston, Sir Brian Pippard: 1920–2008, PhysicsWorld, 24 September 2008, .