Peter Holdsworth, physicist, Laboratoire de physique

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Biography

Born in 1961, Peter Holdsworth studied at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London and defended a PhD thesis at Oxford University in 1985. That same year, he started a post-doctorate at the University of British Columbia in Canada and then at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble. Since 1990, he works at ENS de Lyon where he is currently Professor of Physics.

Peter Holdsworth, a theoretical physicist, uses analytical techniques and numerical simulations to solve problems in statistical mechanics arising from condensed matter. He is particularly interested in geometrically frustrated magnetic systems, phase transitions in Geometrical Confinement and out-of-Equilibrium Dynamics.

His research activities focus on working with experimental groups, both within his laboratory and outside. He has been involved in developments that have led to the realization that a condensed system can be seen as a vacuum for (quasi) exotic particles, magnetic monopolies, which carry a magnetic charge analogous to electric charge.

He is also very active in the development of teaching at ENS de Lyon, in particular for the integration of teaching in research activities. From 2002 to 2015, he also worked there as Director of the Department of Physics.

Awards and honours

Senior member of the IUF in 2010

Senior visiting fellow, Brasenose College, Oxford in 2007

Visiting Professor, Oxford University in 2007

 

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