Alexander L. Fetter is an American physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 and Professor Emeritus of Physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 and Applied Physics

Applied physics

Applied physics is a general term for physics which is intended for a particular technological or practical use.It is usually considered as a bridge or a connection between "pure" physics and engineering....

 at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 in California. His research interests include theoretical condensed matter

Condensed Matter

Condensed matter may refer to several things*Condensed matter physics, the study of the physical properties of condensed phases of matter*European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, a scientific journal published by EDP sciences...

 and superconductivity

Superconductivity

Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...

.

Fetter graduated with a B.A. from Williams College

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

 in 1958, where he was valedictorian

Valedictorian

Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...

. He was also a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College of Oxford University. He went on to receive a Ph.D in Physics at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1963.

In 1968, Fetter joined the faculty at Stanford University, and has been there since. He served as chair of the department from 1985 to 1990.

Fetter is a fellow 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...

 and American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

. He served as the director of the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory and the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials.

Alexander Fetter retired from full-time as a professor in November 2007, but continues to work half time there.

Personal life

Alexander Fetter was married to Jean (now married to Steven Chu

Steven Chu

Steven Chu is an American physicist and the 12th United States Secretary of Energy. Chu is known for his research at Bell Labs in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and...

, his former colleague and currently the Secretary of Energy under President Obama) and had 2 children with her (Anne L. Fetter, and Andrew J. Fetter), and is currently married to Lynn Bunim. His beloved sister Ann ("Nan") Fetter Friedlaender was the first woman Dean at MIT (Economics Department). Sandy Fetter has 6 grandchildren the first of whom was born in 1995 and the most recent in 2006.

Selected publications

• Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems, Dover Publications, 2003, ISBN 978-0-486-42827-7
• Theoretical Mechanics of Particles and Continua, Dover Publications, 2003, ISBN 978-0-486-43261-8
• Nonlinear Mechanics: A Supplement to Theoretical Mechanics of Particles and Continua, Dover Publications, 2006, ISBN 978-0-486-45031-5
• Nonuniform states of an imperfect bose gas, Annals of Physics, 1972