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N. David Mermin received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics at Harvard University in 1956, and his Ph.D. in Physics at Harvard in 1961. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Rudolf Peierls and later with Walter Kohn. Since 1964 he has been on the faculty of Cornell University, where he was Director of the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics from 1984 to 1990. Since 2006, he has been the Horace White Professor of Physics Emeritus. He is the author (with Neil W. Ashcroft) of the well-known textbook Solid State Physics. He has also written four books about science for the general reader, and a book on quantum computation.
He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. His more recent interests have been in philosophical issues in quantum mechanics and special relativity. He is the 2017 recipient of the Vision 97 Award of Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97.
He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. His more recent interests have been in philosophical issues in quantum mechanics and special relativity. He is the 2017 recipient of the Vision 97 Award of Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97.