Professor Mike Kosterlitz

Professor Mike Kosterlitz 1942-present
Awarded (jointly) the Nobel Prize for Physics 2016

• research in condensed matter theory, one- and two-dimensional physics; in phase transitions: random systems, electron localization, and spin glasses; and in critical dynamics: melting and freezing.
• Research fellow at the University of Birmingham in 1970 where he collaborated with Professor David Thouless on phase transitions driven by topological defects
• Returned to the University of Birmingham as a lecturer 1974-1982

Michael Kosterlitz was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, was educated at Cambridge, where he received a BA in 1965 and MA in 1966. He received a D. Phil. from Oxford University in 1969 in high energy physics. He undertook postdoctoral work at Torino University in Italy and came to the University of Birmingham in 1970 as a Research Fellow in high energy physics.  In 1971, he changed fields and collaborated with Professor David Thouless on phase transitions driven by topological defects.

After a period at Cornell University he returned to Birmingham in 1974 as a lecturer and worked on critical phenomena in two and higher dimensions. He left the University in 1982.