J. Michael Kosterlitz

J. Michael Kosterlitz is a theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate whose pioneering work in condensed matter physics revealed new states of matter and helped lay the foundations for quantum computing. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1943, Kosterlitz is the son of Jewish and Christian parents who fled Nazi Germany in 1934. Under German racial laws, his Jewish father, then a practicing physician, was barred from working and forbidden from marrying his non-Jewish fiancée. Fortunately, he was offered a research post at the University of Aberdeen, where the couple married and raised their family.

Growing up in postwar Scotland, Kosterlitz showed early talent in mathematics and the sciences. He eventually earned degrees from Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge and a D.Phil. from Oxford University, where he initially focused on high-energy physics. His intellectual trajectory shifted after a Fulbright-supported postdoctoral stint at Cornell University and a formative collaboration with physicist David Thouless at the University of Birmingham. There, he was introduced to two-dimensional systems, superfluidity, and topological concepts, an entirely new way of understanding phase transitions in materials.

Kosterlitz and Thouless developed the theoretical framework for what became known as the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, a type of phase change that occurs in thin or two-dimensional materials. Their 1970s research explained phenomena like superconductivity at low dimensions and offered mathematical insights that eventually revolutionized the study of topological matter.

Kosterlitz, Thouless, and Duncan Haldane were jointly awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. Their discoveries contributed to fundamental physics and emerging technologies such as quantum computing and thin-film electronics. Kosterlitz’s research has had lasting implications across material science, statistical mechanics, and critical phenomena.

Since 1982, Kosterlitz has been a professor of physics at Brown University in Rhode Island, where he continues to mentor students and collaborate with international scholars. He has held visiting appointments in Finland, South Korea, and Brazil and remains active in exploring the dynamics of systems out of equilibrium.

Kosterlitz’s personal story, from a family persecuted under Nazi racial laws to international scientific acclaim, underscores the resilience and contributions of Jewish scientists in the modern era.

Sources: “J. Michael Kosterlitz Biographical,” Fulbright.
“J. Michael Kosterlitz,” National Academy of Sciences.
“J. Michael Kosterlitz Biographical,” The Nobel Prize.

Photo: Bengt Nyman from Vaxholm, Sweden, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.