Phase Integral Approximations in Wave Mechanics: I. Reflections in One-Dimensional Wave Mechanics. II. Phase Integral Approximations in Two and Three Dimensions. (1950)
Rolf William Landauer (February 4, 1927 – April 27, 1999) was a German-Americanphysicist who made important contributions in diverse areas of the thermodynamics of information processing, condensed matter physics, and the conductivity of disordered media.[2] Born in Germany, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1938, obtained a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 1950, and then spent most of his career at IBM.
He first worked for two years at NASA, then known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, at its Glenn Research Center, then known as the Lewis Research Center, in Cleveland. At the age of 25, he began a career in semiconductors at IBM Research. As part of the two-man team responsible for managing IBM's Research Division in the mid-1960s, he was involved in a number of programs, including the company's work on semiconductor lasers. In 1969, he was appointed an IBM Fellow.
Much of his research after 1969 related to the kinetics of small structures. He showed that in systems with two or more competing states of local stability, their likelihood depends on noise all along the path connecting them. In electron transport theory, he is particularly associated with the idea, taken from circuit theory, that electric flow can be considered a consequence of current sources as well as applied fields. He was also a pioneer in the area of information handling. His principles have been applied to computers and to the measurement process and are the basis for Landauer's own demonstration that communication, in principle, can be accomplished with arbitrarily little dissipation of energy.[3]
Rolf William Landauer died on 27 April 1999 at his home in Briarcliff Manor from brain cancer.[1][4]
IEEE Edison Medal (1998) For pioneering contributions to the physics of computing and conduction.
The Rolf Landauer Medal of the International ETOPIM Association (2009)
The range of his work has been recognized in special issues of two journals, 10 years apart: the IBM Journal of Research and Development (January 1988) and Superlattices and Microstructures (March/April 1998).
^ abcGeorge Johnson (30 April 1999). "Rolf Landauer, Pioneer in Computer Theory, Dies at 72". The New York Times. p. C 21. Retrieved 21 November 2020. Rolf W. Landauer, who helped solidify the slippery concept of information and bring it firmly into the mainstream of physics, died on Tuesday at his home in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. He was 72.
