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American experimental physicist. Earned
his Ph.D. in physics in 1963 at Harvard
University. Heller studied under George
Benedek. Working together, they studied
the F19 nuclear magnetic resonance
(nmr) in the antiferromagnet MnF2 in
its critical region. This began with a
study of the nmr critical linewidth
anomaly and the pressure dependence of
the Neel temperature (approx. 67.3ºK).
As a continuing part of his PhD thesis,
Heller observed the effects of the
applied magnetic field on the manganese
spin sublattices in order to determine
the temperature dependence of the F19
frequency in zero applied field. From
this Heller and Benedek showed that the
order parameter critical exponent for
MnF2 was very close to the value 1/3
instead of the value 1/2 predicted by
mean field theory. This work helped
establish that non-classical critical
exponents occur in real systems,
attracting the attention of many
physicists. In 1967, Heller wrote an
influential article that reviewed all
the experimental data on phase
transitions to that date.
Heller
focused the latter part of his academic
career on teaching and physics
education generally, especially through
experiment.
Peter Heller is a
Professor Emeritus of Physics at
Brandeis University.
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