(2016) Michael Kosterlitz
John Michael Kosterlitz (born June 22, 1943) is a British-American physicist. He is a professor of physics at Brown University and the son of biochemist Hans Kosterlitz. He was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics along with David Thouless and Duncan Haldane for work on condensed matter physics.
He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of the pioneering biochemist Hans Walter Kosterlitz and Hannah Gresshöner. He was educated independently at Robert Gordon\'s College before transferring to the Edinburgh Academy. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree, subsequently converted to a MA degree, at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 1969, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford as a postgraduate student of Brasenose College, Oxford.
After a few postdoctoral positions, including positions at the University of Birmingham, collaborating with David Thouless, and at Cornell University, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Birmingham in 1974, first as a lecturer and, later, as a reader. Since 1982, he has been professor of physics at Brown University.
Kosterlitz does research in condensed matter theory, one- and two-dimensional physics; in phase transitions: random systems, electron localization, and spin glasses; and in critical dynamics: melting and freezing.
