Michael Berry (physicist)


Sir Michael Victor Berry is a British theoretical physicist. He is the Melville Wills Professor of Physics at the University of Bristol.
Berry is known for the Berry phase, a phenomenon observed in both quantum mechanics and classical optics, as well as Berry connection and curvature. He specializes in semiclassical physics, applied to wave phenomena in quantum mechanics and other areas such as optics.

Early life and education

Berry was brought up in a Jewish family and was the son of a London taxi driver and a dressmaker. Berry earned a BSc in physics from the University of Exeter in 1962 where he met his first wife and a PhD from the University of St. Andrews in 1965. His thesis is titled The diffraction of light by ultrasound.

Career and research

He has spent his whole career at the University of Bristol. He was a research fellow, 1965–67; lecturer, 1967–74; reader, 1974–78; Professor of Physics, 1978–88; and Royal Society Research Professor 1988–2006. Since 2006, he has been Melville Wills Professor of Physics at Bristol University.

Awards and honours

He was elected a List of Fellows of the Royal [Society elected in 1982|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1982] and knighted in 1996. From 2006 to 2012 he was editor of Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
Berry has been given the following prizes and awards: