Berni J. Alder

Berni J. Alder is one of, if not the, founding fathers of computer simulation. Alder is a professor emeritus of applied science at the University of California, Davis, and a consultant with the Institute for Scientific Computing Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Awards and prizes

Boltzmann Award

Co-winner of the Boltzmann Award in 2001:

"For inventing the technique of molecular dynamics simulation and showing that with such "computer experiments" important discoveries in the field of statistical mechanics can be made, in particular the melting/crystallization transition of hard spheres and the long-time decay of auto-correlation functions in fluids."

National Medal of Science

On the 7th of October 2009 Barack H. Obama presented The President's National Medal of Science to Berni J. Alder:

"For establishing powerful computer methods useful for molecular dynamics simulations, conceiving and executing experimental shock-wave simulations to obtain properties of fluids and solids at very high pressures, and developing Monte Carlo methods for calculating the properties of matter from first principles, all of which contributed to major achievements in the science of condensed matter."

A photo of the occasion was published in Life.

Publications list

The 'Alder Studies in Molecular Dynamics ' series

1. B. J. Alder and T. E. Wainwright "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. I. General Method", Journal of Chemical Physics 31 pp. 459-466 (1959)
2. B. J. Alder and T. E. Wainwright "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. II. Behavior of a Small Number of Elastic Spheres", Journal of Chemical Physics 33 pp. 1439-1451 (1960)
3. B. J. Alder "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. III. A Mixture of Hard Spheres", Journal of Chemical Physics 40 pp. 2724-2730 (1964)
4. William G. Hoover and Berni J. Alder "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. IV. The Pressure, Collision Rate, and Their Number Dependence for Hard Disks" Journal of Chemical Physics 46 pp. 686-691 (1967)
5. B. J. Alder, W. G. Hoover, and D. A. Young "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. V. High-Density Equation of State and Entropy for Hard Disks and Spheres", Journal of Chemical Physics 49 pp. 3688-3696 (1968)
6. T. Einwohner and B. J. Alder "Molecular Dynamics. VI. Free-Path Distributions and Collision Rates for Hard-Sphere and Square-Well Molecules", Journal of Chemical Physics 49 pp. 1458- (1968)
7. B. J. Alder and C. E. Hecht "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. VII. Hard-Sphere Distribution Functions and an Augmented van der Waals Theory", Journal of Chemical Physics 50 pp. 2032-2037 (1969)
8. B. J. Alder, D. M. Gass, and T. E. Wainwright "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. VIII. The Transport Coefficients for a Hard-Sphere Fluid", Journal of Chemical Physics 53 pp. 3813-3826 (1970)
9. C. H. Bennett and B. J. Alder "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. IX. Vacancies in Hard Sphere Crystals", Journal of Chemical Physics 54 pp. 4796-4808 (1971)
10. B. J. Alder, D. A. Young, and M. A. Mark "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. X. Corrections to the Augmented van der Waals Theory for the Square Well Fluid", Journal of Chemical Physics 56 pp. 3013-3029 (1972)
11. P. T. Herman and B. J. Alder "Studies in Molecular Dynamics. XI. Correlation Functions of a Hard-Sphere Test Particle", Journal of Chemical Physics 56 pp. 987-991 (1972)
12. B. J. Alder, Herbert L. Strauss and J. J. Weis "Studies in molecular dynamics. XII. Band shape of the depolarized light scattered from atomic fluids", Journal of Chemical Physics 59 pp. 1002-1012 (1973)
13. David A. Young and Berni J. Alder "Studies in molecular dynamics. XIII. Singlet and pair distribution functions for hard-disk and hard-sphere solids", Journal of Chemical Physics 60 pp. 1254-1267 (1974)
14. B. J. Alder, W. E. Alley and J. H. Dymond "Studies in molecular dynamics. XIV. Mass and size dependence of the binary diffusion coefficient", Journal of Chemical Physics 61 pp. 1415-1420 (1974)
15. W. E. Alley and B. J. Alder "Studies in molecular dynamics. XV. High temperature description of the transport coefficients", Journal of Chemical Physics 63 pp. 3764-3768 (1975)
16. W. E. Alley and B. J. Alder "Studies in molecular dynamics. XVI. Fluctuation driven resonance", Journal of Chemical Physics 66 pp. 2631-2637 (1977)
17. David A. Young and Berni J. Alder "Studies in molecular dynamics. XVII. Phase diagrams for step potentials in two and three dimensions", Journal of Chemical Physics 70 pp. 473-481 (1979)
18. David A. Young and Berni J. Alder "Studies in molecular dynamics. XVIII. The square-well phase diagram", Journal of Chemical Physics 73 pp. 2430-2434 (1980)

External links

• An Interview with Bernie Alder