physics

Ned Wingreen

Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen rather than just read about it. In short: Ned S. Wingreen is a theoretical physicist and the Howard A.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Ned S. Wingreen is a theoretical physicist and the Howard A. Prior Professor of the Life Sciences at Princeton University. He is a member of the Department of Molecular Biology and of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, where he is currently director of graduate studies. He is the associate director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, and is also associated faculty in the department of physics. Working with Yigal Meir, Wingreen formulated the Meir-Wingreen Formula which describes the electric current through an arbitrary mesoscopic system.

Education and career Wingreen received a B.S. in physics from California Institute of Technology in 1984. Wingreen then received his Ph.D. in theoretical condensed matter physics from Cornell University in 1989 as a Hertz Fellow. His dissertation was titled "Resonant Tunneling with Electron-Phonon Interaction" and he was advised by John W. Wilkins. He did his postdoc in mesoscopic physics at MIT. There, along with Yigal Meir, he formulated the Meir-Wingreen Formula that describes the electric current through an arbitrary mesoscopic system. In 1991 he moved to the NEC Research Institute in Princeton. At NEC, he continued to work in mesoscopic physics, but also started research in biophysics which grew into a general interest in problems at the interface of physics and biology. Wingreen joined Princeton University in 2004. Wingreen's current research focuses on modelling intracellular networks in bacteria and other microorganisms, as well as studies of microbial communities. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Honors Presidential Scholar (1980) Carnation Merit Scholarship (1982–1983) Caltech Merit Scholarship (1983–1984) Jack E. Froehlich Memorial Award (1983) McKinney Prize in Literature (1984) Fellow of the American Physical Society, (2001) "for contributions to the fundamental understanding of protein folding and design, including theoretical insights into the selection of protein structures" President's Award for Distinguished Teaching, Princeton University (2019) Tel Aviv University International Prize in Biophysics (2026)

References

External links Google Scholar Citations Academic Family Tree

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ned Wingreen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen

In research: Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen 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: Ned Wingreen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American physicists, American biophysicists, American theoretical physicist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ned Wingreen in simple terms?

Ned S. Wingreen is a theoretical physicist and the Howard A.

Why does Ned Wingreen 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 Ned Wingreen?

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 Ned Wingreen.