Michael P. Brenner

Career in theoretical soft condensed matter physics and engineering sciences includes papers on pinching-off singularities of droplets, on sonoluminescence and on the physics of splashing, which masterfully unravel subtle aspects of fluid mechanics. Recently elaborated striking theories of the free energy landscape of small colloidal clusters and of the aging of contact lines of colloidal particles at interfaces. Incisive analyses of the sedimentation of small particles and electrospinning techniques for producing small fibers offer intriguing practical implications. Contributions to physical biology include a study of beak shapes of Darwin's finches, analysis of explosively launched fungal spores, and important ideas about range expansions of bacteria on agar plates. With David Weitz, created Science and Cooking, now the most popular general education course at his university and a hit with the general public on YouTube. One of the inaugural Simons Investigators in Physics and recipient of the Harvard Ledlie Prize.