Richard G. Palmer (born 28 January 1949, in Reigate) is a British theoretical physicist.
in theoretical physics (1st Class) and in 1973 his PhD in condensed matter theory with thesis advisor P. W. Anderson and thesis Theory of nuclear matter in neutron stars.
He is interested in the application and development of statistical physics methods for many types of complex systems, including glasses and spin glasses, neural networks, genetic algorithms, and economic markets.
The long-term goal of his work is to establish firm theoretical foundations for understanding the emergence of structure, complexity, and computational ability in driven systems of interacting adaptive components.
[3] He won the Duke Endowment Award for Excellence in Teaching for the academic year 1980–1981.