James S. Langer is an American professor of physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
[1] Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1934, Langer graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1951.
He attended Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Birmingham, earning a B.A.
According to his profile at UCSB, Langer's research focuses on theories of nonequilibrium phenomena, including the kinetics of phase transitions, pattern formation in crystal growth, the dynamics of earthquakes, and deformation and failure in noncrystalline solids.
He was the founding editor of the Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics as of 2010.