Halperin, Emmons Honored By American Physical Society

Two Harvard physicists will receive awards from the American Physical Society (APS) for their outstanding work in condensed matter physics and fluid dynamics.

Bertrand I. Halperin, professor of Physics, will receive the 1982 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize today in Dallas. Text for his study of materials near phase transitions, the points at which matters changes from one state--solid, liquid or gaseous--to another.

APS awarded the 1982 Fluid Dynamics Prize to Howard W. Emmons, Lawrence Professor of Engineering, in recognition of his work in a number of areas, including analysis of combustion and fire.

Emmons will receive his $3000 award and an official citation at next month's APS meeting in Washington.

During World War II, Emmons did pioneering work with transonic flow problems, which involve external forces that affect airplanes in flight. He performed calculations on a simple desk calculator that were not duplicated by computer until last year.

In Dallas, after receiving $5000 and a citation. Halperin will give a talk on his current work, primarily on melting of two-dimensional solids.

The APS selected Halperin for its annual award because of his "very substantive contributions to physics" and his prominance as "one of the dominant solid-state theoreticists in the world," Dean E. Eastman, chairman of the APS's condensed matter physics committee, said yesterday. Eastman described Halperin's award as " one of the most prestigious, if not the most prestigious, prize" in condensed matter physics.

Halperin has researched phase transitions for the past 12 years, but since joining the Faculty in 1976, he and colleague David R. Nelson, professor of physics, have specialized in the theory of two-dimensional solids.