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Malvin Ruderman

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Malvin A. Ruderman
Born(1927-03-25)March 25, 1927
New York, New York, U.S.
CitizenshipU.S.
Alma materColumbia University (BA)
California Institute of Technology (MS, PhD)
Known forRKKY interaction
SpousePaula Ruderman
Children3
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (1956)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, Astrophysics
InstitutionsUC Berkeley
New York University
Columbia University
Thesis "Electron Decay of the Pion"  (1951)
Doctoral advisorRobert Jay Finkelstein
Doctoral studentsJohn Michael Cornwall, Gary Steigman, Alak Ray

Malvin Avram Ruderman (born March 25, 1927) is an American physicist and astrophysicist.

Education

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Mal Ruderman received his A.B. degree from Columbia University in 1945.[1] His MS degree (1947) and PhD (1951) are from the California Institute of Technology under the supervision of Robert Jay Finkelstein.[2][3]

Career

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In 1951–53, Ruderman worked at Berkeley's Radiation Laboratory. He became an assistant professor at UC Berkeley in 1953, rising by 1964 to the rank of full professor. He moved to New York University in 1964, and to Columbia University in 1969, becoming Centennial Professor in 1980. Ruderman served as chair of the Department of Physics at Columbia in 1973–75.[2]

With Charles Kittel in 1954, Ruderman discovered the RKKY interaction for nuclear magnetic moments in certain metals (independently developed by Kasuya and Yosida, hence its name). His later research interests in astrophysics include collapsed objects in astrophysics, neutron stars, and gamma ray emission.[2]

In the early 1960s, Ruderman was a member of the committee that conceived the Berkeley Physics Course. He developed the first draft of the first volume, Mechanics, for use at Berkeley in 1963. With Charles Kittel and Walter D. Knight, he was co-author of the final published volume.[4]

In 1969, Ruderman and (independently) Gordon Baym, Christopher Pethick, and David Pines, were the first to propose that discontinuous slowings observed in neutron stars, so called starquakes, were due to the cracking of the star's solid crust, under increasing stress due to the gradual slowdown of the pulsar.[5]

Honors

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Ruderman was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1956. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972,[6] the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1974,[7] and the American Philosophical Society in 1996.[8] He is a recipient of the Pregel Medal of the New York Academy of Sciences.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (1974–1977). Columbia College today. Columbia University Libraries. New York, New York. : Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
  2. ^ a b c American Institute of Physics, Physics History Network, "Malvin A. Ruderman"
  3. ^ Mathematics Genealogy Project, "Malvin Ruderman"
  4. ^ Charles Kittel, Walter D. Knight, and Malvin Ruderman, Mechanics: Berkeley Course in Physics, Volume 1, McGraw-Hill (1965), Preface, p. ix.
  5. ^ Malcolm S. Longair, The Cosmic Century: A History of Astrophysics and Cosmology, Cambridge University Press (2006), p. 196.
  6. ^ "Malvin A. Ruderman". nasonline.org. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  7. ^ "Malvin Avram Ruderman". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  8. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
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