Law in Disorder

A formal request by the theorists produces a stand-alone Solid-State Theory Group at Bell Labs. A summer visitor program leads several visiting theorists to conclude that localization occurred in Feher’s samples due to an electrostatic mechanism suggested by Nevill Mott. Anderson develops a theory for localization where the disorder in the positions of the dopants plays a crucial role. Mott champions Anderson’s theory and the Nobel Committee cites it when Anderson wins a share of the 1977 Nobel Prize with Mott and John Van Vleck. David Thouless re-ignites Anderson’s interest in localization and he leads the Gang of Four to develop a novel scaling theory of localization.