Nicholas Constantine Metropolis (June 11, 1915 – October 17, 1999) was a Greek-American mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist. June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... October 17 is the 290th (in leap years the 291st) day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... A Greek American is a citizen of the United States who has significant Greek heritage. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. ... Computer science (informally: CS or compsci) is, in its most general sense, the study of computation and information processing, both in hardware and in software. ...

Metropolis received his B.Sc. (1937) and Ph.D. (1941) degrees in experimental physics at the University of Chicago. Shortly afterwards, Robert Oppenheimer recruited him from Chicago, where he was at the time collaborating with Enrico Fermi and Edward Teller on the first nuclear reactors, to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He arrived in the Los Alamos, on April 1943, as a member of the original staff of fifty scientists. After the World War II he returned to the faculty of the University of Chicago as Assistant Professor. He came back to Los Alamos in 1948 to lead the group in the Theoretical (T) Division that designed and built MANIAC I computer in 1952 and MANIAC II computer in 1957. (He chose the name MANIAC in the hope of stopping the rash of such acronyms for machine names, but may have, instead, only further stimulated such use.) From 1957 to 1965 he was Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago and was the founding Director of its Institute for Computer Research. In 1965 he returned to Los Alamos where he was made a Laboratory Senior Fellow in 1980. A Bachelor of Science (B.S., B.Sc. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... The University of Chicago is a private university principally located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1890 and opened in 1892. ... J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, served as the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, beginning in 1943. ... Enrico Fermi in the 1940s. ... Edward Teller in 1958 as Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. ... Los Alamos National Laboratory, aerial view from 1995. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... Combatants Allies: • Poland •UK & Commonwealth • France/Free France • Soviet Union • United States • China . ... A professor is a senior teacher and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... The MANIAC I (Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator, and Computer), an early computer built by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, was based on the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) architecture developed by John von Neumann. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The MANIAC II (Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Computer Model II) was a first-generation electronic computer, built in 1957 for use at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... A professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) (or prof for short) is a senior teacher, lecturer and/or researcher usually employed by a college or university. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

Metropolis contributed several original ideas to mathematics and physics. Perhaps the most widely known is the Monte Carlo method. Also, in 1953 Metropolis co-authored the first paper on a technique that was central to the method known now as Simulated Annealing. Monte Carlo methods are a class of computational algorithms for simulating the behavior of various physical and mathematical systems. ... Simulated annealing (SA) is a generic probabilistic meta-algorithm for the global optimization problem, namely locating a good approximation to the global optimum of a given function in a large search space. ...

Metropolis was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the American Mathematical Society. In 1987 he became the first Los Alamos employee honored with the title "emeritus" by the University of California. Metropolis was also awarded the Pioneer Medal by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and was a fellow of the American Physical Society. The House of the Academy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... For the country formerly called Siam see Thailand SIAM is an acronym for Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. ... The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and education, which it does with various publications and conferences as well as annual monetary awards to mathematicians. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ... Not to be confused with the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). ... The American Physical Society was founded in 1899 and is the worlds second largest organization of physicists. ...

He died in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Los Alamos is an unincorporated townsite in Los Alamos County, New Mexico. ...

See also:

• Metropolis algorithm

The Sampling distribution Q determines the next point to move to in the random walk. ...

External links

• Nick Metropolis dead at 84. Los Alamos National Laboratory Daily News Bulletin. Oct 19, 1999.
• Metropolis, Nicholas Constantine (1915-1999) (at Eric Weisstein's World of Biography)
• Nicolas Metropolis. The Beginning of the Monte Carlo Method. Los Alamos Science, No. 15, Page 125.
• Francis Harlow and Nicolas Metropolis. Computing and Computers -- Weapons Simulation Leads to the Computer Era. Los Alamos Science No. 7, Page 132.
• Herbert Anderson. Metropolis, Monte Carlo and the MANIAC. Los Alamos Science No. 14, Page 69.

References

N. Metropolis, A. N. Rosenbluth, M. N. Rosenbluth, A. H. Teller, and E. Teller. Equation of state calculation by fast computing machines. Journal of Chemical Physics, 21(6):1087–1092, 1953.