Mahan Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

6 October 2005 — Gerald D. Mahan, distinguished professor of physics, has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Elected by the 4,600 current members of the Academy, he joins the 225th class of Fellows from 26 states and 10 countries. "The Academy takes great pride in honoring the accomplishments of these outstanding and influential individuals," said Academy President Patricia Meyer Spacks, who will officiate at the proceedings on Saturday, 8 October 2005.

Mahan is a theoretical physicist with a specialty in condensed-matter physics. He has wide research interests in such topics as gases, liquids, and solids; abstract topics involving many-electron phenomena; and such practical devices as solid-state refrigerators.

Mahan began a four-year term as a Councellor of the American Physical Society in 2002. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Prior to joining the Penn State faculty in 2001, he held a joint appointment as a distinguished professor of physics at the University of Tennessee and as a distinguished scientist in the Solid State Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1984 to 2001. Prior to that, he was a faculty member at Indiana University from 1973 to 1980 where he also was director of the Materials Research Laboratory in 1983 and 1984. He was on the faculty at the University of Oregon from 1967 to 1973, and was a research physicist at the General Electric Corporate Research and Development Center from 1964 to 1967. He earned his doctoral degree in theoretical physics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964 and his bachelor's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1959.

He has authored or coauthored more than 200 technical papers and several books, including one considered by many to be the essential reference for learning advanced techniques in solid-state theoretical physics, Many-Particle Physics.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. Current Academy research focuses on such topics as science and global security, social policy, the humanities and culture, and education. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Academy's work is advanced by its 4,600 elected members who are leaders from around the world in the five broad classes of mathematics and physical sciences; biological sciences; social sciences; humanities and the arts; and public affairs, business and administration. A complete list of new members is available on the Academy's website at www.amacad.org.

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