Statistical physics [antikvár]

PREFACE This volume contains the full texts of invited lectures given at the International Conference on Statistical Physics held in Budapest from 25 to 29 August, 1975. In addition to the invited lectures delivered at the plenary sessions, 199 contributed papers were read at the section meetings. The abstracts of the contributed papers have been published in a separate volume. The Conference, which was attended by 342 scientists from 29 countries, was organized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics through its Commission on Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics. Following its previous conference, the Commission decided to establish an award to honour those making outstanding contributions to thermodynamics and statis- tical mechanics. The Budapest Conference was the first occasion on which the award, a gold medal named after Ludwig Boltzmann, was presented; the first recipient of this Boltzmann Medal was Kenneth G. Wilson. There are a number of individuals and institutions without whose help the Conference could not have taken place. We are greatly indebted to the members of the International Scientific Program Committee for their invaluable help in shaping the program and refereeing the contributed papers. Thanks are due to the members of the Organizing Committee for the tremendous amount of work they put into the organization of the Conference. The most generous support we received from IUPAP, from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and also from the Eötvös Loránd University and the Eötvös Loránd Physical Society is highly appreciated.