Thomas C. Spencer (born December 24, 1946) is an American mathematical physicist, known in particular for important contributions to constructive quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, and spectral theory of random operators.
He is an emeritus faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study.
[1] Spencer earned his doctorate in 1972 from New York University with a dissertation titled Perturbation of the Po2 Quantum Field Hamiltonian written under the direction of James Glimm.
Since 1986, he has been a faculty member in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study.
[citation needed] Spencer is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences,[1] and the recipient of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (joint with Jürg Fröhlich, "For their joint work in providing rigorous mathematical solutions to some outstanding problems in statistical mechanics and field theory.").