Harry Suhl


Harry Suhl was a German-American physicist. He was born in Leipzig, Germany, on October 18, 1922. He received a B.Sc. degree from the University of Wales in 1943, and a PhD degree in theoretical physics from Oriel College, University of Oxford, in 1948.
In 1948, he joined the Bell Telephone Laboratories at Murray Hill, New Jersey, and remained there until, in 1960. he was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of California, San Diego; he transferred to Emeritus status in 1991.
He was Chairman of the Physics Department of UCSD from 1965 to 1968 and again from 1972 to 1975, and was Director of the university's Institute for Pure and Applied Physical Sciences from 1980 to 1991.

Research

Suhl was a specialist in statistical mechanics, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and solid-state physics, particularly superconductivity. Several phenomena he discovered or explained have been named for him. His explanation of nonlinear effects in ferromagnetic resonance in known as the Suhl instability, and one of the major sources of broadening of nuclear magnetic resonance lines in magnetically ordered media is known as the Suhl-Nakamura interaction. A particular divergence in the calculated properties of dilute magnetic alloys is known as the Abrikosov-Suhl resonance.

Awards, recognition and published works

Suhl was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He received a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Oxford in 1969.
He served on the board of editors for Physical Review and Solid State Communications, and was coeditor of several standard treatises: Magnetism, a Treatise on Modern Theory and Materials , Superconductivity in d- and f-Band Metals and Many Body Phenomena at Surfaces.

Selected publications

Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics to Various Problems in Condensed Matter Physics. Current Trends in Condensed Matter Physics, Proceedings of Universidade de Brasilia Winter School on "Non-linear Physical Phenomena," July, 1989, eds. A. Ferraz, F. Oliveira and R. Osorio.
Some Nonlinear Effects in Magnetically Ordered Materials, in Nonlinear Phenomena and Chaos in Magnetic Materials, ed P.E. Wigen.
Motion of a Bloch Domain Wall. With D. Bouzidi. Phys. Rev. Lett., 65, 2587.
Scaling of Critical Self-Organized Magnetic Domain Formation. With X. Che. Phys. Rev. B 44, 155.
Front Propagation into an Unstable Ferromagnetic State. With F.J. Elmer and J. Burns. Europhys. Lett. 22, 399.
Magnetic Susceptibility of a Real Ferromagnet near the Coexistence condition. With Rodrigo Arias. Phys. Rev. B 51, 979.