Aneesur Rahman
Encyclopedia
Aneesur Rahman pioneered the application of computational methods to physical systems. His 1964 paper
on liquid argon studied a system of 864 argon
atoms on a CDC 3600 computer, utilizing a Lennard-Jones potential
. His algorithms still form the basis for many codes written today. Moreover, he worked on a wide variety of problems, such as the microcanonical ensemble
approach to lattice gauge theory
, which he invented
with David J E Callaway
.
Aneesur Rahman was a native of Hyderabad, India. He earned his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from Cambridge University in England and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Louvain University in Belgium. In 1960, Dr. Rahman began a 25-year tenure as a physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne, Ill.). In 1985, Dr. Rahman joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota as a professor of physics and fellow at the Supercomputer Institute
.
Dr. Rahman is known as the father of molecular dynamics
, a discipline of physics that utilizes computers to simulate microscopic behavior of physical systems. In 1977 Dr. Rahman was awarded the Irving Langmuir Prize by the American Physical Society.
The American Physical Society
annually awards the Aneesur Rahman Prize for outstanding achievement in computational research. First awarded in 1993, the Aneesur Rahman Prize is the highest honour in the field of computational physics
given by the American Physical Society.
Argonne National Laboratory
offers a special postdoctoral fellowship named after Aneesur Rahman to be awarded internationally on an annual basis to an outstanding doctoral scientist who is at an early point in a promising career.
on liquid argon studied a system of 864 argon
Argon
Argon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table . Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93%, making it more common than carbon dioxide...
atoms on a CDC 3600 computer, utilizing a Lennard-Jones potential
Lennard-Jones potential
The Lennard-Jones potential is a mathematically simple model that approximates the interaction between a pair of neutral atoms or molecules. A form of the potential was first proposed in 1924 by John Lennard-Jones...
. His algorithms still form the basis for many codes written today. Moreover, he worked on a wide variety of problems, such as the microcanonical ensemble
Microcanonical ensemble
In statistical physics, the microcanonical ensemble is a theoretical tool used to describe the thermodynamic properties of an isolated system. In such a system, the possible macrostates of the system all have the same energy and the probability for the system to be in any given microstate is the same...
approach to lattice gauge theory
Lattice gauge theory
In physics, lattice gauge theory is the study of gauge theories on a spacetime that has been discretized into a lattice. Gauge theories are important in particle physics, and include the prevailing theories of elementary particles: quantum electrodynamics, quantum chromodynamics and the Standard...
, which he invented
with David J E Callaway
David J E Callaway
David J. E. Callaway is a biological nanophysicist in the New York University School of Medicine, where he is Professor and Laboratory Director. He was trained as a theoretical physicist by Richard Feynman and Cosmas Zachos, and was previously an Associate Professor at the Rockefeller University...
.
Aneesur Rahman was a native of Hyderabad, India. He earned his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from Cambridge University in England and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Louvain University in Belgium. In 1960, Dr. Rahman began a 25-year tenure as a physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne, Ill.). In 1985, Dr. Rahman joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota as a professor of physics and fellow at the Supercomputer Institute
University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute
The University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota is an interdisciplinary research program providing supercomputing resources and user support to faculty and researchers. MSI is located on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus in Walter Library...
.
Dr. Rahman is known as the father of molecular dynamics
Molecular dynamics
Molecular dynamics is a computer simulation of physical movements of atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a period of time, giving a view of the motion of the atoms...
, a discipline of physics that utilizes computers to simulate microscopic behavior of physical systems. In 1977 Dr. Rahman was awarded the Irving Langmuir Prize by the American Physical Society.
The American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
annually awards the Aneesur Rahman Prize for outstanding achievement in computational research. First awarded in 1993, the Aneesur Rahman Prize is the highest honour in the field of computational physics
Computational physics
Computational physics is the study and implementation of numerical algorithms to solve problems in physics for which a quantitative theory already exists...
given by the American Physical Society.
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
offers a special postdoctoral fellowship named after Aneesur Rahman to be awarded internationally on an annual basis to an outstanding doctoral scientist who is at an early point in a promising career.
External links
- http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/ArgonneNow/Spring_2008/rahman.html
- http://www.dep.anl.gov/postdocs/Namedpostdoc.htm