Fermi, Pasta, Ulam and a mysterious lady

Thierry Dauxois (1)

1 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon

It is reported that the numerical simulations of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem were performed by a young lady, Mary Tsingou. After 50 years of omission, it is time for a proper recognition of her decisive contribution to the first ever numerical experiment, central in the solitons and chaos theories, but also one of the very first out-of-equilibrium statistical mechanics study. Let us quote from now on the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou problem.

Keywords: Fermi-Pasta-Ulam Problem; Soliton; Chaos

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; History of Physics [physics.hist-ph]; Nonlinear Sciences [physics]; Pattern Formation and Solitons [nlin.PS]; Nonlinear Sciences [physics]; Chaotic Dynamics [nlin.CD]; Nonlinear Sciences [physics]; Exactly Solvable and Integrable Systems [nlin.SI]; Physics [physics]; Condensed Matter [cond-mat]; Statistical Mechanics [cond-mat.stat-mech]

Thierry Dauxois. Fermi, Pasta, Ulam and a mysterious lady. Physics today, 2008, 61, 1, pp.55-57. ⟨10.1063/1.2835154⟩. ⟨ensl-00202296⟩