The Wilsonian revolution in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory

Abstract

We describe how Wilson’s concept of the renormalization group revolutionized our understanding of the physics of phase transitions, and of quantum field theory in general. We underline the key ideas of Wilson, based on earlier ideas of Landau, Ginzburg, Kadanoff and many others, which gave us an insight into the observed universality of diverse physical phenomena, and the remarkable efficacy of a few simple models to describe them.