David Mermin on his life in science: funny, insightful, and significant

 David Mermin has posted a preprint with the modest title, Autobiographical Notes of a Physicist

There are many things I enjoyed and found interesting about his memories. A few of the stories I knew, but most I did not. He reminisces about his interactions with Ken Wilson, John Wilkins, Michael Fisher, Walter Kohn, and of course, Neil Ashcroft.

Mermin is a gifted writer and can be amusing and mischievous. He is quite modest and self-deprecating about his own achievements.

He explains why we should refer to the Hohenberg-Mermin-Wagner theorem, not Mermin-Wagner.

One of his Reference Frame columns in Physics Today, stimulated Paul Ginsbarg to start the arXiv.

I was struck by how Mermin's career belongs to a different era. The community was smaller and more personal. Doing physics was fun. Time was spent savouring the pleasure of learning new things and explaining them to others. Colleagues were friends rather than competitors. His research was curiosity-driven. This led to Mermin making significant contributions to quantum foundations. And, he only published about two papers per year!

Teaching was valued, enjoyable, and stimulated research. It was also a way to learn a subject, regardless of the level at which it was taught. For eight years, Mermin and Ashcroft spent half their time writing their beautiful textbook!

I look forward to hearing others' reflections.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2024 at 9:29 AM

    Hey Ross do you think there is any particular markers where we can say this era of scientific careers died. As I am sure most people from the era would be able to feel there being a change as compared to now, but at which point in time do you think it can be argued science changed and what do you think are the causes. Personally I think the insecure contracts and the way funding is so competitive now with minimal any high risk science or science done for knowledge's sake being done anymore. Or I guess the fact if you do not publish so many papers in good journals each year there is a risk you will lose your job, so it seems we are all just stressed trying to keep our jobs.

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    Replies
    1. Ross H. McKenzieJanuary 26, 2024 at 10:49 AM

      Thanks for your interest and your excellent and fascinating question about when and why the changes have occurred. I am thinking about it. There are many factors involved in any social change. It is a complex system! But I think contributing factors of the rise of neoliberalism and of BS in society at large, the rise of BS, and the availability of metrics. Hope I can write more later.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2024 at 7:15 PM

      That would be great to read, thanks Ross

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2024 at 9:54 AM

    Somewhat related (as I read an end of life reflection of him recently), Jan Zaanen has passed away last week.

    ReplyDelete

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