Pierre Claude Hohenberg studied at Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1956 and a master's degree in 1958 (after a stay during 1956/57 at École Normale Supérieure), and his doctorate in 1962.[2]
From 1962 to 1963, he was at the Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow, followed by a stay at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
From 1964 to 1995 he was at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill. From 1985 to 1989, he was director of the department of theoretical physics and from 1989 to 1995 was "Distinguished Member of Technical Staff".
From 1974 to 1977, he was also professor of theoretical physics at the TU München, where he had previously been a guest professor in 1972–1973. From 1995 to 2003 he was "Deputy Provost of Science and Technology" at Yale University. Subsequently, he was the Yale "Eugene Higgins Adjunct Professor of Physics and Applied Physics". Hohenberg was additionally from 1963 to 1964 and again in 1988 guest professor in Paris and in 1990–1991 a Lorentz-Professor in Leiden. In 2004 he became Senior Vice Provost of Research at New York University, a position held until 2011, when he stepped down to join the Physics Department as Professor. In 2012 he became emeritus Professor of Physics at NYU.[2]
He became famous primarily for his investigations in the 1960s and 1970s in the theory of dynamic (i.e. temporally variable) critical phenomena close to phase transitions. He collaborated thereby with Bertrand Halperin, Shang-keng Ma and Eric Siggia in the application of renormalization methods. Additionally, Hohenberg worked (with Swift) on hydrodynamic instabilities, on the Swift–Hohenberg equation and on pattern formation in non-equilibrium systems with Michael Cross.
Preceding David Mermin and Herbert Wagner he proved in 1967 the impossibility of spontaneous symmetry breaking in one and two dimensions, now known as the Hohenberg–Mermin–Wagner theorem. Mermin and Wagner published an alternative proof of the theorem for magnetic systems based on Hohenberg's work, but Mermin and Wagner published it first in 1966, citing the unpublished work of Hohenberg.[5]
An accomplished continuous distance swimmer, Hohenberg in the second decade of the 21st century annually contested the artist/writer Richard Kostelanetz in a one-hour race at the NYU Coles pool until the pool was closed.
Usually they declare a draw.[citation needed]
Halperin, B. I.; Hohenberg, P. C. (1967-09-18). "Generalization of Scaling Laws to Dynamical Properties of a System Near its Critical Point". Physical Review Letters. 19 (12): 700–703. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.19.700. ISSN0031-9007.
Halperin, B. I.; Hohenberg, P. C. (1969-01-10). "Scaling Laws for Dynamic Critical Phenomena". Physical Review. 177 (2): 952–971. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.177.952. ISSN0031-899X.
Halperin, B. I.; Hohenberg, P. C.; Ma, Shang-keng (1972-12-04). "Calculation of Dynamic Critical Properties Using Wilson's Expansion Methods". Physical Review Letters. 29 (23): 1548–1551. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.29.1548. ISSN0031-9007.
Swift, J.; Hohenberg, P. C. (1977-01-01). "Hydrodynamic fluctuations at the convective instability". Physical Review A. 15 (1): 319–328. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.15.319. ISSN0556-2791.
Hohenberg, P. C. (1967-06-10). "Existence of Long-Range Order in One and Two Dimensions". Physical Review. 158 (2): 383–386. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.158.383. ISSN0031-899X.
P. C. Hohenberg: Dynamical theory of critical phenomena, in E. G. D. Cohen (Ed.) "Statistical mechanics at the turn of the decade", Dekker, New York 1971.
Hohenberg, P. C.; Halperin, B. I. (1977-07-01). "Theory of dynamic critical phenomena". Reviews of Modern Physics. 49 (3): 435–479. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.49.435. ISSN0034-6861.
Cross, M. C.; Hohenberg, P. C. (1993-07-01). "Pattern formation outside of equilibrium". Reviews of Modern Physics. 65 (3): 851–1112. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.65.851. ISSN0034-6861.
