Abstract
David Thouless was one of the leading theoretical condensed matter physicists of his generation. He pointed out (with Kosterlitz) that two-dimensional or quasi-two-dimensional physical systems undergo a completely novel type of phase transition; he developed a highly original approach to the theory of localization of electrons in disordered solids; and with his co-authors pioneered the use of topological considerations in the analysis of many-body systems, a technique that gives a very intuitive understanding of the quantum Hall effect and is at the basis of the modern field of topological insulators and superconductors. In 2016 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for ‘theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter’.
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