Thomas Fink
Encyclopedia
Thomas Fink is an Anglo-American
physicist
who has authored a number of journal articles on statistical and biological physics
and two popular books. He is a Chargé de Recherche at CNRS/Institut Curie
and when not in Paris lives in London
.
, later moving to San Antonio, Texas. He studied physics at Caltech, where he won the annual Fisher Prize in physics, and at St John's College, Cambridge
/Theory of Condensed Matter, where he was supervised by Robin Ball. He was a Junior Fellow
at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
and did a Postdoctorate at École Normale Supérieure
, Paris, with Bernard Derrida
. He now occupies his present CNRS position.
at the age of 20 while at Caltech and received his PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Fink uses statistical mechanics
to study complex systems in physics and interdisciplinary fields, including discrete dynamics, network theory, critical phenomena and theoretical biology. His Erdős number is 3 (see the list of people by Erdős number).
Selected Papers
The Man's Book (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006; Orion, 2007; Little, Brown
, 2009) is a handbook of men's customs, habits and pursuits. It is organized by subject, with chapters on health, dress, sports, outdoors, drinking, eating and others. The author dedicates only a few pages to each section (of which there are about 100), and within that space tries to summarize the essentials as completely and densely as possible. For instance, the section on beer explains the different beer styles, lists popular beers from around the world, and summarizes beer drinking customs. The book was designed by the author, and was written so that each section finishes on the last line of a page. This effect does not survive translation, however. The Man's Book has been reviewed in The Times (UK), the Literary Review, the New Statesman, and has been translated into German, Italian, Russian and other languages.
The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie
, (with Yong Mao, Fourth Estate, London, 1999) is a cultural, historical and mathematical examination of ties and tie knots.
The book includes a layman's account of the authors' mathematical papers which derived all possible knots capable of being tied with a standard necktie.
It has been published in 10 languages.
The app hit the No. 1 spot in the Apple App Store, with over 1 million downloads, on 23 May 2009, according to the IntuApps website and Little, Brown.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
who has authored a number of journal articles on statistical and biological 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 two popular books. He is a Chargé de Recherche at CNRS/Institut Curie
Curie Institute (Paris)
thumb|Centre of protontherapyInstitut Curie is one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world.It is a private non-profit foundation operating a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a hospital specialized in treatment of cancer...
and when not in Paris lives in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Education and positions
Fink was born in Plattsburgh, New YorkPlattsburgh (town), New York
Plattsburgh is a town in Clinton County, New York, United States. The population was 11,870 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Zephaniah Platt, an early land owner.The Town of Plattsburgh borders the City of Plattsburgh...
, later moving to San Antonio, Texas. He studied physics at Caltech, where he won the annual Fisher Prize in physics, and at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
/Theory of Condensed Matter, where he was supervised by Robin Ball. He was a Junior Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
and did a Postdoctorate at École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
, Paris, with Bernard Derrida
Bernard Derrida
Bernard Derrida is a French theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in statistical mechanics.He entered the Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1971, and received his doctorate in 1976. Since 1993 he has been professor of physics at Université Pierre et Marie Curie and at ENS...
. He now occupies his present CNRS position.
Research
Fink is a researcher in theoretical physics. He published his first paper in the journal ScienceScience (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
at the age of 20 while at Caltech and received his PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Fink uses statistical mechanics
Statistical mechanics
Statistical mechanics or statistical thermodynamicsThe terms statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics are used interchangeably...
to study complex systems in physics and interdisciplinary fields, including discrete dynamics, network theory, critical phenomena and theoretical biology. His Erdős number is 3 (see the list of people by Erdős number).
Selected Papers
- S. Ahnert, T. Fink and A. Zinovyev, 'How much non-coding DNANoncoding DNAIn genetics, noncoding DNA describes components of an organism's DNA sequences that do not encode for protein sequences. In many eukaryotes, a large percentage of an organism's total genome size is noncoding DNA, although the amount of noncoding DNA, and the proportion of coding versus noncoding...
do eukaryotes require?', J. Theor. Bio. 252, 587. - F. Brown, T. Fink and K. Willbrand, ‘On arithmetic and asymptotic properties of up-down numbers’, Disc. Math. 307 1722.
- B. Derrida and T. Fink, 'Sequence determination from overlapping fragments: a simple model of whole-genome shotgun sequencing', Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 068106.
- T. Fink and R. Ball, 'How many conformations can a protein remember?', Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 198103.
- T. Fink and Y. Mao, 'Designing Tie knots by random walks', Nature 398, 31.
- B. Werner and T. Fink, 'Beach cusps as self-organized patterns', Science 260, 968.
Books
According to his homepage, Fink's books have sold 330,000 copies.The Man's Book (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006; Orion, 2007; Little, Brown
Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
, 2009) is a handbook of men's customs, habits and pursuits. It is organized by subject, with chapters on health, dress, sports, outdoors, drinking, eating and others. The author dedicates only a few pages to each section (of which there are about 100), and within that space tries to summarize the essentials as completely and densely as possible. For instance, the section on beer explains the different beer styles, lists popular beers from around the world, and summarizes beer drinking customs. The book was designed by the author, and was written so that each section finishes on the last line of a page. This effect does not survive translation, however. The Man's Book has been reviewed in The Times (UK), the Literary Review, the New Statesman, and has been translated into German, Italian, Russian and other languages.
The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie
The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie
The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie is a book by Thomas Fink and Yong Mao. The authors were research fellows at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory...
, (with Yong Mao, Fourth Estate, London, 1999) is a cultural, historical and mathematical examination of ties and tie knots.
The book includes a layman's account of the authors' mathematical papers which derived all possible knots capable of being tied with a standard necktie.
It has been published in 10 languages.
iPhone Application
In May 2009 IntuApps, a New York iPhone application developer, and Little, Brown released an iPhone application inspired by The Man's Book.The app hit the No. 1 spot in the Apple App Store, with over 1 million downloads, on 23 May 2009, according to the IntuApps website and Little, Brown.