physics

Jakob Yngvason

Jakob Yngvason is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jakob Yngvason rather than just read about it. In short: Jakob Yngvason (born 23 November 1945) is an Icelandic/Austrian physicist and emeritus professor of mathematical physics at the University of Vienna. He has made important contributions to local quantum field theory, thermodynamics, and the quantum theory of many-body systems, in particular cold atomic gases and Bose–Einstein condensation.

Key takeaways

Jakob Yngvason belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jakob Yngvason to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jakob Yngvason from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jakob Yngvason (born 23 November 1945) is an Icelandic/Austrian physicist and emeritus professor of mathematical physics at the University of Vienna. He has made important contributions to local quantum field theory, thermodynamics, and the quantum theory of many-body systems, in particular cold atomic gases and Bose–Einstein condensation. He is co-author, together with Elliott H. Lieb, Jan Philip Solovej and Robert Seiringer, of a monograph on Bose gases.

Career After graduating from high school in 1964 in Reykjavík, Yngvason studied physics at Göttingen University, obtaining his Diploma in physics in 1969, and a doctorate (dr.rer.nat) in 1973. His thesis advisor was Hans-Jürgen Borchers. Yngvason was assistant professor at the University of Göttingen, 1973–1978, 1978–1985 research scientist at the Science Institute of the University of Iceland, and during 1985–1996 professor of theoretical physics at the University of Iceland. In 1996, he became professor of mathematical physics at the University of Vienna, where he has been emeritus professor since October 2014. He was president of the Erwin Schrödinger Institute for Mathematical Physics (ESI) in Vienna, 1998-2003, and scientific director of the institute 2004–2011. He was vice-president of the International Association of Mathematical Physics, 2000–2005, and editor-in-chief of Reviews in Mathematical Physics, 2006-2010. He is a member of the Societas Scientiarum Islandica and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, Copenhagen. For their theoretical work in thermodynamics, Yngvason and Lieb received the Levi Conant Prize of the American Mathematical Society in 2002, for a paper on the mathematical explanation of the second law of thermodynamics. In 2004, he received the Erwin Schrödinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Personal life Yngvason is married to Guðrún Kvaran, professor of lexicography at the University of Iceland; they have two children.

References

External links Home page at Vienna University https://web.archive.org/web/20120306040442/http://www.oeaw.ac.at/shared/news/2004/press_inf_20041011.html Media related to Jakob Yngvason at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jakob Yngvason

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jakob Yngvason claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jakob Yngvason before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jakob Yngvason ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jakob Yngvason

In research: Jakob Yngvason appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jakob Yngvason in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jakob Yngvason is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1945 births, 20th-century Austrian physicists, 21st-century Austrian physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jakob Yngvason outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jakob Yngvason in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jakob Yngvason means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jakob Yngvason out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jakob Yngvason in simple terms?

Why does Jakob Yngvason matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jakob Yngvason?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jakob Yngvason.