PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Nobel Laureate and Brown University Professor of Physics Michael Kosterlitz has been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national science academy.
Kosterlitz is among 94 preeminent researchers from across the world elected in this year’s cohort of fellows, which includes leaders across a range of scientific fields, from astronomy and cancer research to mathematics and biotechnology. The new fellows join the ranks of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and many more of history’s most prominent scientists in the oldest continuously operating scientific society in the world.
“I was very pleased to receive my share of the Nobel Prize in 2016 and to become a member of the American National Academy of Sciences shortly afterwards,” said the Scotland-born Kosterlitz. “However, it is of specific significance for me to receive a distinction like this from my country of origin.”
Kosterlitz won a share of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work using topology, the mathematics that describes the aspects of shape that are preserved when objects or spaces are continuously stretched, bent or twisted. Kosterlitz and his colleagues used topology to describe phase changes in two-dimensional flows of liquid helium. Rigorous theorems had suggested that such phase transitions should be impossible, but Kosterlitz and his collogues showed how the topology of these systems enables such transitions to occur.
The work was a watershed moment in the study of exotic behavior in ultra-thin materials. It helped to generate new interest in the power of topology to describe a variety of phenomena from aspects of Earth’s climate to forces that drive the expansion of the universe.
Kosterlitz said he was also pleased to join his father, Hans Kosterlitz, in the Fellowship of the Royal Society. The elder Kosterlitz was honored for his work in the discovery of endorphins, hormones that help the body to relieve pain, reduce stress and improve mood.
“It seems to be a bit of a family tradition which happens late in life as also my father was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in his 80s,” Kosterlitz said.
The new cohort of fellows will be officially inducted into the society in July, when they’ll have a chance to sign the Charter Book, the document created in 1663 that established the Royal Society.
“I am delighted to welcome this newest group of exceptional scientists to the Fellowship of the Royal Society,” said Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society. “Their contributions reflect the highest standards of scientific endeavor. Whether advancing our understanding of vaccines or exploring the transformative potential of mathematics and computation, their work exemplifies the enduring value of curiosity, creativity and rigorous inquiry.”