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Science & Medicine

Leo Kadanoff

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Who

Leo Kadanoff · Science & Medicine

What

Physicist; block-spin scaling and the renormalization group

When

1937, New York City, United States — 2015, Chicago, Illinois, United States

Where

United States

Biography

Leo Kadanoff is recognized among Jewish contributors to Science & Medicine — Physicist; block-spin scaling and the renormalization group

How & why

Kadanoff, an American theoretical physicist of Jewish background, introduced the 'block-spin' picture of scaling near phase transitions, a decisive step toward the renormalization group that explains why very different systems behave identically at critical points. Based at the University of Chicago, he later contributed to chaos theory and urban modeling. His scaling ideas reshaped condensed-matter physics.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics

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Contributions & Sources

Physicist; block-spin scaling and the renormalization group

1937

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Physics