Gordon Walter Semenoff (born July 11, 1953), , , is a theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is known for his research on quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and string theory and is particularly famous for his co-invention, together with Antti Niemi, of the parity anomaly in odd-dimensional gauge field theoriesAxial Anomaly Induced Fermion Fractionization and Effective Gauge Theory Actions in Odd Dimensional Space-Times, A.J. Niemi and G.W. Semenoff, Physical Review Letters 51:2077, 1983. and for his pioneering work on graphene.Condensed Matter Simulation Of A Three-Dimensional Anomaly. Gordon W. Semenoff, Physical Review Letters 53:2449, 1984. He is also well known for development of thermal field theory,Finite Temperature Quantum Field Theory in Minkowski Space. A.J. Niemi, G.W. Semenoff, Annals of Physics 152:105, 1984.Thermodynamic Calculations in Relativistic Finite Temperature Quantum Field Theories. Antti J. Niemi, Gordon W. Semenoff, Nuclear Physics B230:181, 1984.Real Time Feynman Rules For Gauge Theories With Fermions At Finite Temperature And Density, Zeitschrift für Physik C 29:371, 1985.Discontinuities of Green Functions in Field Theory at Finite Temperature and Density. R.L. Kobes, G.W. Semenoff, Nuclear Physics B260:714-746, 1985.Discontinuities of Green Functions in Field Theory at Finite Temperature and Density. 2, R.L. Kobes, G.W. Semenoff, Nuclear Physics B272:329-364, 1986. the application of index theorems and their generalizations in quantum field theoryFermion Number Fractionization in Quantum Field Theory. A.J. Niemi, G.W. Semenoff, Physics Reports 135:99, 1986. and string theory, notably with respect to the duality between string theories and gauge field theories.Wilson loops in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, J.K. Erickson, G.W. Semenoff, K. Zarembo, Nuclear Physics B582:155-175, 2000.A New double scaling limit of N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and PP wave strings, C. Kristjansen, J. Plefka, G.W. Semenoff, M. Staudacher, Nuclear Physics B643:3-30, 2002.
Education and career Gordon Semenoff was born on July 11, 1953, in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada, where he attended Matthew Halton High School, graduating in the Class of 1971. After completing Bachelor of Science (1976) and Doctor of Philosophy (1981) degrees at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Gordon spent one year, 1981–1982, as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta and the subsequent year, 1982–1983, as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Theoretical Physics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1983 he was appointed a university research fellow at the University of British Columbia and has spent the remainder of his career to date at that institution, being promoted to full professor in 1990. He has held a number of prestigious visiting appointments, including membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1984, 1985 and 2000, and visiting professorships at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1986, Hokkaido University in Hokkaido, Japan, in 1989, the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1989, 1999 and 2012, Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, in 2000, the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris, France, in 2001 and 2011, the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) in Bures sur Yvette, France, in 2005, 2006 and 2020, the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, U.K. in 2007 and 2012 and the University of Tours in Tours, France, in 2008.
Awards Jacob Biely Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 2013 Officer of the Order of Canada, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Canadian Association of Physicists, 2012 Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Lethbridge, Canada, 2011 Brockhouse Medal for Achievement in Condensed Matter and Material Physics (Canadian Association of Physicists) 2010 Majorana Prize 2006 CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 2000 Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2000 Macdowell Medal of the University of British Columbia in 1990 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, 1989 Killam Research Prize, University of British Columbia, 1989 NSERC University Research Fellowship, 1983 NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1982 Alberta Graduate Fellowship 1980–1981 NSERC Postgraduate Fellowship 1976–1980
Publications Quantum Field Theory, An Introduction, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. (2023)
References
External links Publications from Inspire Web page at the University of British Columbia Citation for the Order of Canada pic pic Citation for Lifetime Achievement Award Citation for Brockhouse Medal Citation for CAP/CRM prize Honorary Doctor of Science Perimeter Institute Affiliation Invited lectures and conference presentations Colloquium poster Colloquium poster Public Lecture Public Lecture / A Nobel Connection
Prairie Post interview Pincher Creek Echo interview