1982–1989
Tel Aviv University
BSc, MSc (Summa Cum Laude, 1986), and PhD (Summa Cum Laude, 1989) in Theoretical Physics. Early research on random systems, nonlinear conductivity, and distributions of physical quantities in disordered media.
Raphael (Rafi) Blumenfeld
Theoretical physicist, College Lecturer and Bye-Fellow at Gonville & Caius College Cambridge. Editor: Granular Matter.
I am a theoretical physicist and have worked on a wide range of nonlinear phenomena: granular matter, statistical mechanics of a-thermal systems, fracture mechanics, soft condensed matter, and the behaviour of disordered structures. My approach is driven by fundamental questions — how do granular solids transmit stress? When can non-equilibrium systems be described by principled statistical mechanics? How does self-organisation emerge?
Theoretical physics is one of the greatest adventures for me. I have sometimes described myself as "a student of life" — life retorted by challenging me from time to time. Nevertheless, we get along well enough. My route from Tel Aviv through Cambridge, Princeton, and Los Alamos to the present reflects a career guided less by fashionable branding than by an appetite for fundamental problems and original ways to resolve them. Well, and by availability of jobs and other constraints.
Photo: Cambridge
Career
1989–1993
Cambridge & Princeton
Research Associate with Prof. R.C. Ball at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (1989–92), then with Prof. S. Torquato at Princeton University (1992–93). Work on fracture mechanics, growth phenomena, and statistical physics of disordered systems.
1993–1998
Los Alamos, Princeton, and Industry
Director's Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory with Prof. A.R. Bishop (1993–96), then work with Prof. S. Orszag at Princeton, and a period as Project Leader at Molecular Simulations Inc., Cambridge UK.
1997–present
Cambridge, Imperial College London, and international roles
Long-term visitor at the Cavendish Laboratory (1997–2024). Research Fellow at Imperial College London, Earth Science & Engineering (2005–2023). College Lecturer and Bye-Fellow at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (2009–). Distinguished Professor at Central South University, Hunan, China (2019–). Editor of Granular Matter journal, Springer (2013–).
Profile
Approach
Creative approaches to fundamental problems
In my research, I often attempt first-principles approach to fundamental questions. I believe that critical thinking, being original, and taking sometimes the less travelled route is not only important but can also reap great reward.
Communication
Approach to publications
I try to construct my papers such that they are readable to a wider community than my own. My most important paper is often the next one I am working on. Additionally, I sometimes wrap up my theoretical models with limericks that summarise them.
Teaching & mentorship
Physics as conversation
Tutoring, supervision, seminars, and the organisation of the Edwards Symposium series (annually since 2017) reflect a commitment to physics as a communal and argumentative enterprise.
Gallery
Beyond the main résumé
The original site also makes room for volleyball, chess, science-fiction enthusiasms, anecdotes about encounters with Mandelbrot, Mott, and Sam Edwards, and notes on the human side of academic life. Those pages are preserved in the archive.
- Volleyball and chess — genuine parts of the biography
- Anecdotes and intellectual milieu
- Personal and workshop photos