Julian Schwinger The Physicist The Teacher And The Man

In the post-quantum-mechanics era, few physicists, if any, have matched Julian Schwinger in contributions to and influence on the development of physics. A deep and provocative thinker, Schwinger left his indelible mark on all areas of theoretical physics; an eloquent lecturer and immensely successful mentor, he was gentle, intensely private, and known for being ?modest about everything except his physics?. This book is a collection of talks in memory of him by some of his contemporaries and his former students: A Klein, F Dyson, B DeWitt, W Kohn, D Saxon, P C Martin, K Johnson, S Deser, R Finkelstein, Y J Ng, H Feshbach, L Brown, S Glashow, K A Milton, and C N Yang. From it, one can get a glimpse of Julian Schwinger, the physicist, the teacher, and the man. Altogether, this book is a must for all physicists, physics students, and others who are interested in great legends.

In the post-quantum-mechanics era, few physicists, if any, have matched Julian Schwinger in contributions to and influence on the development of physics. A deep and provocative thinker, Schwinger left his indelible mark on all areas of theoretical physics; an eloquent lecturer and immensely successful mentor, he was gentle, intensely private, and known for being “modest about everything except his physics”. This book is a collection of talks in memory of him by some of his contemporaries and his former students: A Klein, F Dyson, B DeWitt, W Kohn, D Saxon, P C Martin, K Johnson, S Deser, R Finkelstein, Y J Ng, H Feshbach, L Brown, S Glashow, K A Milton, and C N Yang. From it, one can get a glimpse of Julian Schwinger, the physicist, the teacher, and the man. Altogether, this book is a must for all physicists, physics students, and others who are interested in great legends. Contents:Recollections of Julian Schwinger (A Klein)Schwinger's Response to the Award of an Honorary Degree at NottinghamSchwinger's “The Greening of Quantum Field Theory: George and I” (F Dyson)The Uses and Implications of Curved-Spacetime Propagators: A Personal View (B DeWitt)Overview of Density Functional Theory (W Kohn)Julian Schwinger Memorial Tribute (D Saxon)Julian Schwinger — Personal Recollections (P C Martin)Julian Schwinger — Personal Recollections (K Johnson)Julian Schwinger — Personal Recollections (S Deser)Julian Schwinger: The QED Period at Michigan and the Source Theory Period at UCLA (R Finkelstein)Schwinging a Sorcerer's Wand: Julian and I (Y J Ng)Julian Schwinger — Reminiscences and Nuclear Physics (H Feshbach)An Important Schwinger Legacy: Theoretical Tools (L Brown)The Road to Electroweak Unification (S Glashow)Julian Schwinger: Source Theory and the UCLA Years — from Magnetic Charge to the Casimir Effect (K A Milton)Julian Schwinger (C N Yang) Readership: Graduate students in physics and physicists. keywords:Biography of Julian Schwinger;Quantum Electrodynamics;Renormalization Theory;Quantum Field Theory;Electroweak Unification;Green's Functions;Source Theory;Nuclear Physics;Theoretical Physics;Variational Principles “This is a very interesting book about Julian Schwinger from many very different view points.” C N Yang, Nobel Laureate SUNY, Stony Brook “This book gives special insights into one of the great minds of 20th century theoretical physics.” Frank Close Rutherford Appleton Lab. “… it provides a fascinating and inspiring insight into the life and work of one of the true giants of theoretical physics. This is a book many physicists will want to read.” T W B Kibble Imperial College “It is a nice collection of reminiscences by his close friends. I very much enjoyed reading it.” T Eguchi Univ. of Tokyo “Many of the contributions make fascinating reading.” CERN Courier “There are two valuable appendices as well: a list of Schwinger's doctoral students and his updated publication list … The articles are varied in slant, but all are delightful … One picks up interesting and varying insights from the different contributions here.” Sam Treiman Physics Today

Julian Schwinger was one of the leading theoretical physicists of the twentieth century. His contributions are as important, and as pervasive, as those of Richard Feynman, with whom (and with Sin-itiro Tomonaga) he shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physics. Yet, while Feynman is universallyrecognized as a cultural icon, Schwinger is little known even to many within the physics community. In his youth, Julian Schwinger was a nuclear physicist, turning to classical electrodynamics after World War II. In the years after the war, he was the first to renormalize quantum electrodynamics.Subsequently, he presented the most complete formulation of quantum field theory and laid the foundations for the electroweak synthesis of Glashow, Weinberg, and Salam, and he made fundamental contributions to the theory of nuclear magnetic resonance, to many-body theory, and to quantum optics. Hedeveloped a unique approach to quantum mechanics, measurement algebra, and a general quantum action principle. His discoveries include 'Feynman's' parameters and 'Glauber's' coherent states; in later years he also developed an alternative to operator field theory which he called Source Theory,reflecting his profound phenomenological bent. His late work on the Thomas-Fermi model of atoms and on the Casimir effect continues to be an inspiration to a new generation of physicists. This biography describes the many strands of his research life, while tracing the personal life of this privateand gentle genius.

The Julian Schwinger Centennial Conference of 2018 assembled many of Schwinger's students, colleagues, and friends to celebrate this towering figure of twentieth century physics one hundred years after his birth. This proceedings volume collects talks delivered on this occasion. They cover a wide range of topics, all related to Schwinger's rich scientific legacy — supplemented by personal recollections about Julian Schwinger, the physicist, the teacher, and the gentleman.Also included are an essay of 1985, co-authored by Schwinger but not published previously, as well as the transcripts of speeches by distinguished colleagues at the 1978 gathering when Schwinger's sixtieth birthday was celebrated.

This is the first biography ever written on the distinguished physicist Julian Schwinger. Schwinger was one of the most important and influential scientists of the twentieth century. The list of his contributions is staggering, from his early work leading to the Schwinger action principle, Euclidean quantum field theory, and the genesis of the standard model, to later valuable work on magnetic charge and the Casimir effect. He also shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Richard Feynman. However, even among physicists, understanding and recognition of his work remains limited. This book by Mehra and Milton, both of whom were personally acquainted with Schwinger, presents a unique portrait that sheds light on both his personality and his work through discussion of his lasting influence on science. Anyone who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of one of the great physicists of this century needs to read this book.

Julian Schwinger (1918–1994) was one of the giants of 20th Century science. He contributed to a broad range of topics in theoretical physics, ranging from classical electrodynamics to quantum mechanics, from nuclear physics through quantum electrodynamics to the general theory of quantum fields. Although his mathematical prowess was legendary, he was fundamentally a phenomenologist. He received many awards, including the first Einstein Prize in 1951, and the Nobel Prize in 1965, which he shared with Richard Feynman and Sin-itiro Tomonaga for the self-consistent formulation of quantum electrodynamics into a practical theory. His more than 70 doctoral students have played a decisive role in the development of science in the second half of this century. This important volume includes many of Schwinger's most important papers, on the above and other topics, such as the theory of angular momentum and the theory of many-body systems. The papers collected here continue to underlie much of the work done by theoretical physicists today. Contents:Quantum ElectrodynamicsSpin and Angular MomentumNuclear PhysicsClassical Electrodynamics, Diffraction, and Synchrotron RadiationQuantum Field TheoryMany Body TheoryQuantum MechanicsImportance of ResearchMagnetic ChargeSource TheoryDeep Inelastic ScatteringCasimir EffectSupersymmetryStatistical Atom Readership: Theoretical physicists, mathematicians and historians of science. Keywords:Spin and Angular Momentum;Nuclear Physics;Microwave Radiation;Synchrotron Radiation;Electrodynamics;Quantum Electrodynamics;Renormalization Theory;Quantum Field Theory;Quantum Mechanics;Many-Body Theory;Magnetic Charge;Casimir Effect;Source TheoryReviews: “Overall the presentation is excellent: the introductions bring Schwinger's work to life.” Mathematics Abstracts “… it is hard to imagine what physics would be like at the end of the millennium without the contributions of Julian Schwinger, a private man but a great scientist and a superb teacher with dozens of the now best established theoretical physicists among his students, including three Nobel laureates …” CERN Courier “Schwinger's work was independent, brilliant and often very original.” Mathematical Reviews

One of the most famous science books of our time, the phenomenal national bestseller that "buzzes with energy, anecdote and life. It almost makes you want to become a physicist" (Science Digest). Richard P. Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. In this lively work that “can shatter the stereotype of the stuffy scientist” (Detroit Free Press), Feynman recounts his experiences trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets—and much more of an eyebrow-raising nature. In his stories, Feynman’s life shines through in all its eccentric glory—a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah. Included for this edition is a new introduction by Bill Gates.

The book is devoted to the study of the correlation effects in many-particle systems. It presents the advanced methods of quantum statistical mechanics (equilibrium and nonequilibrium), and shows their effectiveness and operational ability in applications to problems of quantum solid-state theory, quantum theory of magnetism and the kinetic theory. The book includes description of the fundamental concepts and techniques of analysis following the approach of N N Bogoliubov's school, including recent developments. It provides an overview that introduces the main notions of quantum many-particle physics with the emphasis on concepts and models. This book combines the features of textbook and research monograph. For many topics the aim is to start from the beginning and to guide the reader to the threshold of advanced researches. Many chapters include also additional information and discuss many complex research areas which are not often discussed in other places. The book is useful for established researchers to organize and present the advanced material disseminated in the literature. The book contains also an extensive bibliography. The book serves undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers who have had prior experience with the subject matter at a more elementary level or have used other many-particle techniques.