physics

Peter Wyder

Peter Wyder 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 Wyder rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Rudolf Wyder (26 February 1934 – 30 July 2024) was a Swiss physicist and a professor of experimental solid-state physics at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands from 1967 until 1988 and in 1990. Wyder later served as director of the Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (High Magnetic Field Laboratory) in Grenoble, France.

Key takeaways

Peter Wyder 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 Wyder to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter Wyder from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter Rudolf Wyder (26 February 1934 – 30 July 2024) was a Swiss physicist and a professor of experimental solid-state physics at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands from 1967 until 1988 and in 1990. Wyder later served as director of the Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (High Magnetic Field Laboratory) in Grenoble, France.

Life and career Wyder was born in Burgdorf on 26 February 1934. He obtained his PhD at ETH Zurich in 1965 with a doctoral thesis titled: "Freie Weglängen für die elektrische und die thermische Leitfähigkeit" and thesis advisor Jorgen Lykke Olsen. He then did research in the USA as a Fellow of the Miller Institute of Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley (1965) and as a Research fellow at Harvard University (1966). Starting in 1967 Wyder was a professor of experimental solid-state physics at Radboud University Nijmegen. There he worked with the High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Wyder was director of the Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory, GHMFL) in Grenoble, France. The laboratory was founded on the basis of cooperation between the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Wyder was director of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research between 1984 and 2001. He became Honorary Professor at the University of Konstanz (1987) and Nijmegen University (1989). Wyder retired as director of the GHMFL in 2001. Wyder died in Amsterdam on 30 July 2024, at the age of 90.

Honours Wyder was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985.

PhD students Wyder's PhD students include:

Publications

by Wyder include:

1964: Wyder, Peter (January 1964). "Mean Free Paths in the Normal and the Superconducting State". Reviews of Modern Physics. 36 (1): 116–117. Bibcode:1964RvMP...36..116W. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.36.116. 1965: Freie Weglängen für die elektrische und die thermische Leitfähigkeit, doctoral dissertation, ETH Zürich, 1965. Thesis advisor: Olsen, J.L. Also published as Wyder, Peter (April 1965). "Freie Weglängen für die elektrische und die thermische Leitfähigkeit". Zeitschrift für Physik B. 3 (4): 263–291. Bibcode:1965PKM.....3..263W. doi:10.1007/BF02422773. hdl:20.500.11850/132406. 1981 with J. A. A. J. Perenboom and F. Meier: Electronic properties of small metallic particles, Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co., 1981. Series: Physics reports, v. 78, no. 2. 1994: Proceedings of the International Conference on Materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity - High Temperature Superconductors IV : Grenoble, France, 5–9 July 1994. Pt. 1/2/3/4/5, Amsterdam North-Holland 1994. Series: Physica C, Superconductivity. 2002 with Robert Kratz: Principles of pulsed magnet design, Berlin; New York: Springer, 2002 2003 with Israel D. Vagner: Recent trends in theory of physical phenomena in high magnetic fields, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003. Series: NATO science series, Series II, Mathematics, physics and chemistry, vol. 106. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Les Houches, France, 25 February – 1 March 2002. 2004, with Israel D. Vagner and Boris I. Lembrikov: Electrodynamics of magnetoactive media, Berlin: Springer, 2004. Series: Springer series in solid-state sciences, 135. 2005, with G. Franco Bassani and Gerald Liedl: Encyclopedia of Condensed Matter Physics, Academic Press San Diego: Elsevier Science & Technology Books. Aug. 2005. 2013, with Klaus Andres and Bruno Lüthi: Ein Pionier der Nanotechnologie : Nobelpreisträgers Heinrich Rohrer, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Nr. 114, (21 May 2013), S. 12.

for Wyder 1995, Walter Joss: Physics and magnetic fields: a festschrift to honour professor Peter Wyder on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Amsterdam : North-Holland, 1995. Series: Physica B, vol. 204, no. 1-4 (1995)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Wyder

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

In research: Peter Wyder 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 Wyder 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 Wyder is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1934 births, 2024 deaths, Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Wyder 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 Wyder in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Wyder in simple terms?

Why does Peter Wyder 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 Wyder?

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 Wyder.