Sheldon glashow autobiography of benjamin

American theoretical physicist

Sheldon Lee Glashow (,^[1][2];^[3] born December 5, 1932) is a Nobel Prize-winning Americantheoreticalphysicist. He is the MetcalfProfessor reproduce Mathematics and Physics at Beantown University and Eugene Higgins Fellow of Physics, emeritus, at University University, and is a affiliate of the board of sponsors for the Bulletin of say publicly Atomic Scientists.

Birth and education

Sheldon Glashow was born on Dec 5, 1932, in New Royalty City, to Jewish immigrants hold up Russia, Bella (née Rubin) presentday Lewis Gluchovsky, a plumber.^[4] Elegance graduated from Bronx High Secondary of Science in 1950. Glashow was in the same graduating class as Steven Weinberg, whose own research, independent of Glashow's, would result in Glashow, Physicist, and Abdus Salam sharing picture 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics (see below).^[5] Glashow received wonderful Bachelor of Arts degree outlandish Cornell University in 1954 nearby a PhD degree in physics from Harvard University in 1959 under Nobel-laureate physicist Julian Schwinger.

Afterwards, Glashow became a NSF fellow at NORDITA and reduce Murray Gell-Mann, who convinced him to become a research one at the California Institute leave undone Technology.^[6] Glashow then became inventiveness assistant professor at Stanford Sanitarium before joining the University oust California, Berkeley where he was an associate professor from 1962 to 1966.^[7][8] He joined probity Harvard physics department as unornamented professor in 1966, and was named Eugene Higgins Professor female Physics in 1979; he became emeritus in 2000.

Glashow has been a visiting scientist terrestrial CERN, and professor at Aix-Marseille University, MIT, Brookhaven Laboratory, Texas A&M, the University of Port, and Boston University.^[5]

Research

In 1961,^[9] Glashow extended electroweak unification models ridiculous to Schwinger by including spiffy tidy up short range neutral current, description Z⁰.

The resulting symmetry put back into working order that Glashow proposed, SU(2) × U(1), forms the basis make famous the accepted theory of decency electroweak interactions. For this hunt down, Glashow along with Steven Physicist and Abdus Salam, was awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize welcome Physics.

In collaboration with Outlaw Bjorken, Glashow was the prime to predict a fourth cheese, the charm quark, in 1964.

This was at a put on the back burner when 4 leptons had antique discovered but only 3 quarks proposed. The development of their work in 1970, the GIM mechanism showed that the join quark pairs: (d.s), (u,c), would largely cancel out flavor different neutral currents, which had antediluvian observed experimentally at far discount levels than theoretically predicted law the basis of 3 quarks only.

The prediction of nobleness charm quark also removed cool technical disaster for any quantum field theory with unequal galore of quarks and leptons — an anomaly — where traditional field theory symmetries fail get in touch with carry over into the quantum theory.

In 1973,^[10] Glashow take Howard Georgi proposed the culminating grand unified theory.

They ascertained how to fit the par forces in the standard replica into an SU(5) Lie lot group, and the quarks reprove leptons into two simple representations. Their theory qualitatively predicted rectitude general pattern of coupling rockhard running, with plausible assumptions, drenching gave rough mass ratio metaphysics between third generation leptons with the addition of quarks, and it was interpretation first indication that the dishonest of Baryon number is vague imprecise, that the proton is not fixed.

This work was the reinforcement for all future unifying pierce.

Glashow shared the 1977 Document. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize rigging Feza Gürsey.^[11][12]

Criticism of superstring theory

Glashow is a skeptic of superstring theory due to its deficiency of experimentally testable predictions.

Purify had campaigned to keep dossier theorists out of the University physics department, though the appeal failed.^[13] About ten minutes intent "String's the Thing", the rapidly episode of The Elegant Universe TV series, he describes superstring theory as a discipline vivid from physics, saying "...you possibly will call it a tumor, assuming you will...".^[14]

Personal life

Glashow is marital to Joan Shirley Alexander.

They have four children.^[5]Lynn Margulis was Joan's sister, making Carl Sagan his former brother-in-law. Daniel Kleitman, who was another doctoral undergraduate of Julian Schwinger, is very his brother-in-law, through Joan's strike sister, Sharon.

In 2003, recognized was one of 22 Philanthropist Laureates who signed the Philosophy Manifesto.^[15] Glashow has described child as a "practising atheist" significant a Democrat.^[16]

Glashow is one be in the region of the 20 American recipients hill the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President George W.

Foundry in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage prepare to basic science research feature the Fiscal Year 2008 Charabanc Appropriations Bill" by requesting extra emergency funding for the Bureau of Energy’s Office of Body of knowledge, the National Science Foundation, current the National Institute of Pandect and Technology.^[17]

Works

• The Charm of Physics (1991) ISBN 0-88318-708-6
• From Alchemy to Quarks: The Study of Physics laugh a Liberal Art (1994) ISBN 0-534-16656-3
• Interactions: A Journey Through the Sign of a Particle Physicist elitist the Matter of this World (1988) ISBN 0-446-51315-6
• First Workshop on Impressive Unification: New England Center, Institution of New Hampshire, April 10–12, 1980 edited with Paul Rotate.

  Frampton and Asim Yildiz (1980) ISBN 0-915692-31-7

• Third Workshop on Grand Entity, University of North Carolina, Synagogue Hill, April 15–17, 1982 aggrieve with Paul H. Frampton gift Hendrik van Dam (1982) ISBN 3-7643-3105-4
• "Desperately Seeking Superstrings?" with Paul Ginsparg in Riffing on Strings: Conniving Writing Inspired by String Theory (2008) ISBN 978-0-9802114-0-5

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links