Fred Cummings Explained

Frederick W. Cummings (November 21, 1931 - January 31, 2019)[1] was an American theoretical physicist and professor at the University of California, Riverside.[2] He specialised in cavity quantum electrodynamics, many-body theory, non-linear dynamics, and biophysics.

Discoveries

Cummings obtained his PhD with Edwin Thompson Jaynes at Stanford University in 1962. After thirty years at University of California Riverside Physics department, Cummings became emeritus professor in 1993. He then lived in Marin County, California.Some of his important discoveries include the "Jaynes–Cummings model", one atom interacting with a quantized e-m field; as well as the extension of this to N atoms, the "Tavis-Cummings model". In the last twenty years his interest has turned to questions of biophysics of development and evolution.[3] [4]

Academic career

Cummings was full professor at U.C. Riverside when he retired (emeritus) after thirty years at UCR.

Research interests

His major research interests weretheoretical physics,the biophysics of development,cavity quantum electrodynamics,many-body theory, andnon-linear dynamics.

Education

He received his BS from Louisiana State University in 1955 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1960.

Biography

Cummings was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1931.He served in the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1952, in the infantry in Korea.He studied for his BS in physics and math major at LSU 1952–1955.He then was in the Physics Department of Stanford University for his Ph.D. 1955–1960.He worked at the Aeronutronic Research Labs, Ford Motor Co., Newport Beach, California 1960–1963.He was a professor at UCR, Riverside, California, 1963–1993.

In 1964, he married Kathleen Sturgis of Riverside, California. They had one child.

Cummings died on January 31, 2019, in Marin County, CA.[5]

Selected publications

Notes and References

  1. Web site: February 10, 2019 . Frederick W. Cummings . The Press Enterprise . June 21, 2021.
  2. Web site: UCR Faculty Directory: Individual Listing . 2010-07-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120308084841/http://www.facultydirectory.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/pub/public_individual.pl?faculty=785 . 2012-03-08 . dead .
  3. F. W. Cummings. Int. J. Dev. Biol.. 50. 2–3. 193–208. 2006. 10.1387/ijdb.052058fc. 16479488. On the origin of pattern and form in early Metazoans. free.
  4. Model of Morphogenesis. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications. 339. 3–4. 531–547. 10.1016/j.physa.2004.04.047. physics/0308030. 2004PhyA..339..531C . 2004. Cummings. F.W. 13529760 .
  5. Web site: Frederick Cummings Obituary (1931 - 2019) - Marin, CA - the Press-Enterprise . .