Stealing the Gold: A Celebration of the Pioneering Physics of Sam Edwards

Paul M. Goldbart, Nigel Goldenfeld, David Sherrington0198528531, 9780198528531

According to one of his many admirers, Sir Sam Edwards (physics, Manchester U.) is driven by two passions: architecture and the observation of unicorns. In architecture, Edwards injects reality inside a formal construction. In observing unicorns, he makes friends with the elusive “Spin glass” and introduces it all ’round. In this collection reprints of some of his seminal papers, in facsimile, alternate with explanatory papers and commentary, topics include electric conductivity in metals, statistical dynamics of homogeneous turbulence, statistical mechanics of polymers with extended volume, a theory of polymer solutions at intermediate concentrations, statistical mechanics with topological constraints, theories of Spin glasses and rubber elasticity, molecular motions under flow in the dynamics of concentrated polymer systems, surface statistics of a granular aggregate, a theory of powders and the transmission of stress in an aggregate. Two chapters describe Edwards’s approach to research”