| RefNo | EC/1994/31 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Pettifor, David Godfrey: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 23/07/1990 |
| Description | Citation typed on separate sheet of paper, then pasted onto certificate |
| Citation | Pettifor has played a key role in the current dialogue between physicists and metallurgists. He is almost unique in his abillity to start with the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics and to develop models of cohesion and structure of alloys which are at the same time both predictive and conceptually simple. Thus his research links first-principles calculations to one's physical and chemical intuition, which showed that the concept of electronegativity needed dramatic revision in the context of alloy formation. His pioneering ideas on the cohesion and structure of metals and alloys are now found in standard textbooks. His recent ordering of the structural data base of binary compounds within isostoichiometric structure maps has proved so valuable, that the maps are being issued commercially as a new Wall Chart. Work with Hasegawa accounting for the phase diagram of iron under pressure and temperature was a major theoretical advance in the understanding of metallic magnetism. His early analysis of the electronic structure oif transition metals gave justification for approximate tight binding treatments and later quantitive developments such as the LMTO method. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA5074 | Pettifor; David Godfrey (1945 - 2017) | 1945 - 2017 |