Michael Ellis Fisher, British physicist

Doctor Honoris Causa of ENS de Lyon - October 11, 2012 Michael Ellis Fisher (born 3 September 1931) is an English physicist, as well as chemist and mathematician, known for his many seminal contributions to statistical physics, including but not restricted to the theory of phase transitions and critical phenomena. Michael E. Fisher received his BSc from King's College London in 1951, where he also earned a PhD in physics in 1957. He was appointed to the faculty as a lecturer the following year, becoming a full professor in 1965. In 1966 he moved to Cornell University where he became professor of chemistry, physics, and mathematics, chairing the chemistry department from 1975 to 1978. In 1971, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1973, he and Jack Kiefer were the first two Cornell faculty elected as Horace White Professors. Fisher was elected Secretary of the Cornell University Senate.