Papastamatiou Scholarship

The Papastamatiou Scholarship was established as a memorial to Nicolas J. Papastamatiou, who was a Professor of Physics at UWM from 1968 to 1995.  Saikat Ray Majumder is the 2004 Papastamatiou Scholarship recipient. 

Saikat Ray Majumder with Mrs. Papastamatiou

The following obituary notice appeared in the February 1996 issue of Physics Today.

Nicolas J. Papastamatiou

Nicolas J. Papastamatiou, 55, former chair of the physics department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, died of cancer on September 3, 1995.  Born in Athens, Greece, he was educated at the National and Capodistrian University of Athens and then studied in the UK, where he received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Oxford in 1966.

Later that year Papastamatiou came to the United States to take a postdoctoral position at Syracuse University. In 1968 he was hired as an assistant professor by UWM.

At UWM, Papastamatiou collaborated fruitfully with Hiroomi Umezawa, Hideki Matsumoto and others for nearly 20 years. They formulated a fundamental and novel approach to spontaneous symmetry breaking. involving the notion of the dynamical rearrangement of symmetries when Heisenberg fields are mapped to fields. Their mathematical formalism was particularly effective in describing the quantum nature of "extended objects”, particle-like objects of finite extent that are constructed from quantum fields.

Papastamatiou's graduate teaching and his research reflected an exceptional facility with the mathematical techniques of quantum field theory. Known for his elegant and enthusiastic lectures, he taught the subtleties of quantum physics both to his colleagues and to a generation of UWM students.

For most of the last 16 years, he served as chair of the physics department. He was a kind and thoughtful mentor, with a gift for encouraging promising young scientists. In a century of specialization, Papastamatiou's intellectual breadth showed us some of what we have sacrificed. He was fluent in Greek, French and English, and he knew Latin, ancient Greek and German as well. He was a man with whom English teachers and writers liked to talk about poetry and fiction, and with whom musicians discussed music.

Papastamatiou never promoted himself or his own interests. His colleagues will miss his calm demeanor, his wisdom and his friendship.

 MOISES LEVY

RICHARD SORBELLO

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

 

A.P. BALACHANDRAN

Syracuse University

Syracuse, New York

JOHN L. FRIEDMAN