physics

Peter Fulde

Peter Fulde 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 Peter Fulde rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Fulde (6 April 1936 – 11 April 2024) was a German physicist working in condensed matter theory and quantum chemistry. Biography Fulde received a PhD degree at the University of Maryland in 1963.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Peter Fulde (6 April 1936 – 11 April 2024) was a German physicist working in condensed matter theory and quantum chemistry.

Biography Fulde received a PhD degree at the University of Maryland in 1963. After spending more than one year as a postdoc with Michael Tinkham in Berkeley, he returned in 1965 to Germany where he obtained a chair for theoretical physics in 1968 at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/M. From 1971 to 1974 he was in charge of the theory group of the Institute Max von Laue-Paul Langevin in Garching. In 1971 he became a director at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart where he served until 1993 when he became the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden. After his retirement in 2007 he became president of the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics and a faculty member at POSTECH in Pohang (Korea). He directed the center until 2013. Fulde has made numerous contributions to condensed matter physics including superconductivity and correlated electrons in molecules and solids. Particularly known is the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase which may occur when fermions with imbalanced populations are paired. Fulde was a founding member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (former Preussische Akadamie der Wissenschaften). He was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and Deutsche Akademie für Technikwissenschaften (acatech). Among his awards are the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony (2007), the Tsungming Tu Award of the National Science Council of Taiwan (2009) and the Marian-Smoluchowski-Emil-Warburg-Award of the German and Polish Physical Societies (2011). He was an Honorary Citizen of the Province Gyeongsangbuk do of the Republic of Korea (2014) and of the City of Pohang (2016). Fulde died in Dresden, Saxony on 11 April 2024, at the age of 88.

Selected publications Fulde, Peter; Ferrell, Richard A. (1964-08-03). "Superconductivity in a Strong Spin-Exchange Field". Physical Review. 135 (3A). American Physical Society (APS): A550–A563. Bibcode:1964PhRv..135..550F. doi:10.1103/physrev.135.a550. ISSN 0031-899X. OSTI 5017462. Meservey, R.; Tedrow, P. M.; Fulde, Peter (1970-11-02). "Magnetic Field Splitting of the Quasiparticle States in Superconducting Aluminum Films". Physical Review Letters. 25 (18). American Physical Society (APS): 1270–1272. Bibcode:1970PhRvL..25.1270M. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.25.1270. ISSN 0031-9007. P. Fulde “Crystal fields”, Chapter 17 in "Handbook on the physics and chemistry of rare-earth", ed. by K. A. Gschneider and L. Eyring; North-Holland Publ. Comp. (1978) doi:10.1016/S0168-1273(79)02008-0 "Electron Correlations in Molecules and Solids", 480 pp. (Springer, Heidelberg 1991, 1993, 1995) Fulde, Peter (1995). Third Enlarged Edition. Springer. ISBN 3-540-59364-0. "Correlated Electrons in Quantum Matter", 535 pp. (World Scientific, Singapore, 2012); ebook ISBN 978-981-4390-91-0; pbk ISBN 978-981-4390-92-7

References

See also Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov phase

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Fulde

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Fulde 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 Peter Fulde 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 Peter Fulde 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 Peter Fulde

In research: Peter Fulde 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 Peter Fulde 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: Peter Fulde is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, 2024 deaths, 20th-century German physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Fulde 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 Peter Fulde in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Fulde in simple terms?

Peter Fulde (6 April 1936 – 11 April 2024) was a German physicist working in condensed matter theory and quantum chemistry. Biography Fulde received a PhD degree at the University of Maryland in 1963.

Why does Peter Fulde 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 Peter Fulde?

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 Peter Fulde.