Ma, Shanggeng, 1940-1983

Theoretical physicist.

From the description of Papers, 1966-1982. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82743756

Biography

Shang-keng Ma (9/24/40-11/24/83) was born in Chungking, China, and came to the United States in 1959. He earned degrees in physics from the University of California, Berkeley (B.A. 1962 and M.A. 1966). In 1966 Ma joined the University of California, San Diego physics department as an assistant researcher in Keith Brueckner's research group. He was promoted to faculty status in 1967 and remained with the physics department until his death in 1983.

During his career at UCSD, Ma was also a visiting professor at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study (1968-1969 and 1970), at Cornell University (1972), at the University of California, Berkeley (1973-1974), at CEN Saclay in France, at Tsing Hua University, Taiwan (1977-1978 and 1981), and at IBM - Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York (1981). It was at Cornell that Ma became involved in the work for which he won the greatest acclaim: amplification and extension of Kenneth Wilson's pioneering work in renormalization group theory of critical phenomena. Renormalization group theory (RG) is applicable to many areas within theoretical physics; Ma focused on its applications to critical phenomena.

Critical phenomena are highly unusual. Many substances have phase transitions that are commonly observable, such as the transition of water to steam. Critical phenomena involve phase transitions that, under certain circumstances, exhibit unique characteristics. Water, for example, can appear as a milky and turgid substance, given the presence of specific values of critical exponents. Five critical exponents, or factors, give rise to the diversity of critical phenomena observed by physicists in such areas as fluid and ferromagnetic systems. The study of critical phenomena has focused on determining the quantitative value of these factors. RG is the first theory that has been able to predict quantitative values for each of the critical exponents. Ma's work between 1972 and 1976, which culminated in the publication of his book MODERN THEORY OF CRITICAL PHENOMENA (1976), provided a much-needed introduction and clarification of the application of renormalization group theory to the study of critical phenomena. During his research at CEN Saclay, Ma developed the Monte Carlo renormalization group technique, combining two previously unrelated techniques into a single tool that is now commonly used in the quantitative study of critical phenomena.

Ma's career reflects a commitment to the importance of pedagogy. He wrote MODERN THEORY OF CRITICAL PHENOMENA as a textbook for graduate students. Later, Ma set aside his study of critical phenomena in order to write another physics textbook, this time in Chinese. This undertaking reflects Ma's interest in "the development of the Chinese language for use in modern science...." He noted in an application for a Guggenheim grant that the lack of Chinese-language texts seriously limited Chinese students' acquisition of scientific knowledge, reducing science classes to murky discussions of imprecisely understood concepts and rote memorization of formulae. Ma believed that writing a textbook in Chinese would make a dual contribution. It would introduce (old as well as new) terminology that was at once scientifically correct and intelligible in Chinese, and it would introduce new developments in science to the Chinese-speaking world. Surprisingly, STATISTICAL MECHANICS, which appeared in English in 1985, does not include discussion of Ma's work on renormalization group theory or critical phenomena.

From the guide to the Shang-keng Ma Papers, 1966 - 1983, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)