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The mathematician who helped to reshape physics

Barry Simon linked a phenomenon that had shocked physicists to topology, the branch of mathematics that studies shapes.
  1. Davide Castelvecchi
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In recent years, physics has been swept by ideas from a branch of mathematics called topology. Topology is the study of objects that deform continuously without tearing, for example through stretching or twisting. But it is now proving crucial to understanding the shapes of quantum waves formed by the electrons inside matter. These waves can form shapes such as vortices, knots and braids that give materials a variety of exotic properties. In 1983, Barry Simon was the first person to make the link between strange phenomena in materials and topology.

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Nature 584, 20 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02297-2

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

References

  1. Klitzing, K. v., Dorda, G. & Pepper, M. Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 494–497 (1980).

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  2. Avron, J. E., Seiler, R. & Simon, B. Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 51 (1983).

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  3. Simon, B. Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 2167 (1983).

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  4. Nakamura, J., Liang, S., Gardner, G. C. & Manfra, M. J. https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.14115 (2020).

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