Spin waves

Anderson discusses his interest in Complexity and Physics of Information; the Santa Fe Institute; his doubts about DCS theory of superconductivity and theory of A15s; resonation valence bond ideas; political involvement from local issues to Star Wars defense. Other topics include: ferromagnetism; Ginzburg-Landau theory; Josephson effect; magnetism; military research in the United States; solid state physics; solid state physics in Japan; spin glasses; superconductivity; and spin lattice relaxation.

Covers the gradual move from Bell Labs to Princeton, at first part time then full; discusses work on spin glass problem and ramifications for optimization theory and neural networks; reaction to Nobel Prize; return to localization and Gang of Four paper; thoughts on mixed valance problem and heavy electron systems.

Anderson discusses the theory of superfluid Helium-3; recalls germination of the idea and eventual publication of "More is Different"; reviews work on topological defects; discusses motivation for resonation valence bond work with Fazekas; talks about interaction with Lee and Rice on charge density waves; recalls foray into astrophysics with Pines and Alpar and theory of pulsars glitches.

Interview focuses briefly on personal details of Philip Anderson's life and almost exclusively on technical aspects of Anderson's research. After discussing his undergraduate and graduate education at Harvard including his research on spectral lines, he begins the technical aspects of the interview by reviewing his interest in anti-ferromagnetism and his time in Japan. Included in this are his thoughts on the organization of the Japanese scientific community. The second half of the interview deals entirely with his interest in superconductivity and localized moments. Within this general topic there is some treatment of his thoughts on the time that he spent in Cambridge, MA.