Description

This publication, in two volumes, is devoted to the scientific impact of the work of Nobel Laureate, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. It covers the important fields for which de Gennes was renowned: solid state (magnetism and superconductivity), macroscopic random media and percolation, supersolids, liquid crystals, polymers, adhesion and friction, and biophysics.

The book brings together internationally renowned experts to contribute their perspectives on the significance of de Gennes’ works. They have each selected a definitive paper, which gives the state of the field at the time the paper was published, highlights the paper’s importance and provides an analysis of the development of the field right up to the modern day. The insightful perspectives of these scientists make the book both unique and intriguing.

Contents:

• Volume I: Solid State and Liquid Crystals:
  • Magnetism (J Friedel)
  • Surface Bound States in Unconventional Superconductors: An Unforseen Consequence of Earlier Work by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and Daniel Saint-James (G Deutscher)
  • Superconductivity at High Temperature in the Cuprates (J Bok)
  • Macroscopic Random Media and Percolation (E Guyon et al.)
  • Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and Supersolidity — Comment on C R Physique 7, 561–566 (2006) (S Balibar)
  • On “An Analogy Between Superconductors and Smectics-A” (T Lubensky)
  • On a Few Universal Aspects of Liquid Crystals (P Pieranski)

• Volume II: Soft Matter and Biophysics:
  • The n = 0 Discovery (T Witten)
  • Dynamics of Entangled Polymers: the Three Key Ideas (M Rubinstein)
  • Polyelectrolytes: The de Gennes Legacy (P Pincus & O Saleh)
  • Polymers in Confined Geometries (K Guevorkian & F Brochard-Wyart)
  • Adhesion and Friction (H Brown)
  • An Approach to Cell Adhesion Inspired from Polymer Physics (P Nassoy)
  • Spreading Made a Splash (L Bocquet)