James S. Langer is a Professor of Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 in 1934, Langer attended Carnegie Institute of Technology

Carnegie Institute of Technology

The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...

 and the University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...

, earning a B.A. in physics from the former in 1955 and a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from the latter in 1958. A Marshall Scholar at Bingingham, his thesis advisor was Rudolf Peierls

Rudolf Peierls

Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, CBE was a German-born British physicist. Rudolf Peierls had a major role in Britain's nuclear program, but he also had a role in many modern sciences...

. After receiving his doctorate, he began his career in the Physics Department at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (which later became Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....

), where he would stay until 1982. He then joined UCSB's Institute for Theoretical Physics

Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics

The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara. KITP is one of the most renowned institutes for theoretical physics in the world. KITP programs bring theorists in physics and related fields together to work together on topics at...

 as professor. Between 1989 and 1995, he served as its director.

According to his profile at UCSB, Langer's research focuses on theories of nonequilibrium phenomena, including the kinetics of phase transitions, pattern formation

Pattern formation

The science of pattern formation deals with the visible, orderly outcomes of self-organisation and the common principles behind similar patterns....

 in crystal growth

Crystal growth

A crystal is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. Crystal growth is a major stage of a crystallization process, and consists in the addition of new atoms, ions, or polymer strings into...

, the dynamics of earthquakes, and deformation and failure in noncrystalline solids.

Langer served as President of 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...

 in 2000 and as Vice President of the United States National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

 from 2001 to 2005. His awards include the APS's Oliver Buckley Prize in 1997.