Residence United Kingdom Role Physicist Nationality British Parents Lionel Penrose | Fields Physics Name Oliver Penrose | |
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Born 6 June 1929 (age 94)
London, England ( 1929-06-06 ) Institutions Imperial College, London
Open University
Heriot-Watt University Alma mater University College, London
King's College, Cambridge Known for Bose–Einstein condensation in liquid helium
direction of time
kinetics of phase transitions
foundations of statistical mechanics Doctoral advisor Harold Neville Vazeille Temperley Siblings Roger Penrose, Shirley Hodgson Education Open University, University College School Similar People Roger Penrose, Lionel Penrose, Shirley Hodgson | ||
Doctoral students E R Smith
D J Gates. | ||
Oliver Penrose in conversation with John Ball
Oliver Penrose (born 6 June 1929) is a British theoretical physicist.
He is the son of the scientist Lionel Penrose, brother of the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, and brother of chess Grandmaster Jonathan Penrose. He was associated with the Open University for seventeen years and was a Professor of Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh from 1986 until his retirement in 1994. He holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Heriot-Watt, and remains active in research there. His areas of interest include statistical mechanics, phase transitions in metals and physical chemistry of surfactants. He is particularly known for the concept of off-diagonal long-range order, which is central to our present-day understanding of superfluids and superconductors. Other more abstract topics in which he has worked include understanding the physical basis for the direction of time and interpretations of quantum mechanics.