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Julian Schwinger, one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, died on July 16, 1994, of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76.
In 1965, Julian Schwinger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, an award he shared with Richard Feynman and Sin-itiro Tomonaga for their independent contributions to quantum electrodynamics. The theoretical achievements of Schwinger and Feynman in the late 1940s and early 1950s ignited a revolution in quantum field theory and laid the foundations for much of the spectacular progress that has been made during the ensuing four decades in understanding the fundamental forces of nature. Although many others also contributed, it was Julian who made the initial breakthrough and led this development in its early stages.
Schwinger's first scientific papers were published when he was 17, and he continued working intensively until a few days before his death. Born in New York City in 1918, Schwinger was educated at the City College of New York and at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. at the age of 21. He continued his postdoctoral research first at Columbia and later, with J. R. Oppenheimer, at Berkeley. During these years, 1935-42, in a series of thirty papers, he made fundamental contributions to the emerging science of nuclear physics, which brought him international acclaim.
From 1943 to 1946, Schwinger was a member of the wartime staff of the Radiation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT he played a leading role in the development of the radar that was crucial to the Allied war effort. After the war, Schwinger accepted an associate professorship at Harvard and became a full professor in 1947 at age 29. Between 1948 and 1950, Schwinger published the monumental papers on quantum electrodynamics for which he later shared the Nobel Prize. In 1972, Julian moved to the Department of Physics at UCLA, where he held the title of University Professor of the University of California.
During the fifties and sixties his superb contributions continued. Here one finds many seminal ideas and prescient papers, including the 1967 paper that foreshadowed and directly influenced the Nobel prize-winning discovery of the electroweak theory. During the late sixties he began a total reconstruction of the quantum field theory to which he had contributed so fundamentally. This new theory, which he named source theory, was his response to the failures of the then existing (operator) field theory to describe the new experimental discoveries in high energy particle physics. Although the source theory work was begun at Harvard, its intense development, including its many applications, was the main activity of Schwinger and his group at UCLA for many years. Later he pursued an important investigation of complex atoms and still later, of the quantum theory of measurement. In the end there was almost no frontier of theoretical physics to which he did not make important contributions: nuclear, particle, and atomic physics, statistical mechanics, classical electrodynamics, and general relativity. His total published work comprises over 200 papers and numerous books. There remains in addition an extensive body of unpublished work.
A recipient of the Sigma Xi award for distinguished teaching, Schwinger had a profound influence on the development of twentieth-century physics that reached far beyond the research advances embodied in his own papers and books. Schwinger was, among physicists of his time, uniquely influential as a teacher and mentor. His lectures were elegant, lucid, and inspiring. His course lectures form the basis for graduate instruction throughout the world. The mathematical techniques he developed and applied so creatively are a part of every theorist's arsenal. He directed more than seventy doctoral theses and thereby became the intellectual leader of at least four generations of physicists. To his own students he gave much more than guidance on their research. He gave them a depth of understanding, a respect for rigor, and a mastery of the field that permitted each to become, not a Schwinger disciple, but an independent scientist, each in his or her own way.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Schwinger received numerous international awards and honors for his research. A member of the National Academy of Science for more than forty-five years, in 1949 he was awarded the academy's Nature of Light Prize. In 1951, Schwinger shared the first Albert Einstein Prize with mathematician Kurt Godel. The same year he received the Columbia University Medal for his work on quantum electrodynamics. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson awarded him the newly created National Medal of Science.
A gentle, cultivated man of broad interests, Julian is also remembered by colleagues for his love of music and of good food and wine and for his devotion to tennis and skiing. He will be deeply missed by his innumerable friends throughout the world.
Julian is survived by his wife of forty-seven years, Clarice (Carrol) Schwinger. A very private person, he relied strongly on Clarice. Her love and support provided an environment in which he flourished.
Robert Finkelstein
Margaret Kivelson
David Saxon
In 1965, Julian Schwinger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, an award he shared with Richard Feynman and Sin-itiro Tomonaga for their independent contributions to quantum electrodynamics. The theoretical achievements of Schwinger and Feynman in the late 1940s and early 1950s ignited a revolution in quantum field theory and laid the foundations for much of the spectacular progress that has been made during the ensuing four decades in understanding the fundamental forces of nature. Although many others also contributed, it was Julian who made the initial breakthrough and led this development in its early stages.
Schwinger's first scientific papers were published when he was 17, and he continued working intensively until a few days before his death. Born in New York City in 1918, Schwinger was educated at the City College of New York and at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. at the age of 21. He continued his postdoctoral research first at Columbia and later, with J. R. Oppenheimer, at Berkeley. During these years, 1935-42, in a series of thirty papers, he made fundamental contributions to the emerging science of nuclear physics, which brought him international acclaim.
From 1943 to 1946, Schwinger was a member of the wartime staff of the Radiation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT he played a leading role in the development of the radar that was crucial to the Allied war effort. After the war, Schwinger accepted an associate professorship at Harvard and became a full professor in 1947 at age 29. Between 1948 and 1950, Schwinger published the monumental papers on quantum electrodynamics for which he later shared the Nobel Prize. In 1972, Julian moved to the Department of Physics at UCLA, where he held the title of University Professor of the University of California.
During the fifties and sixties his superb contributions continued. Here one finds many seminal ideas and prescient papers, including the 1967 paper that foreshadowed and directly influenced the Nobel prize-winning discovery of the electroweak theory. During the late sixties he began a total reconstruction of the quantum field theory to which he had contributed so fundamentally. This new theory, which he named source theory, was his response to the failures of the then existing (operator) field theory to describe the new experimental discoveries in high energy particle physics. Although the source theory work was begun at Harvard, its intense development, including its many applications, was the main activity of Schwinger and his group at UCLA for many years. Later he pursued an important investigation of complex atoms and still later, of the quantum theory of measurement. In the end there was almost no frontier of theoretical physics to which he did not make important contributions: nuclear, particle, and atomic physics, statistical mechanics, classical electrodynamics, and general relativity. His total published work comprises over 200 papers and numerous books. There remains in addition an extensive body of unpublished work.
A recipient of the Sigma Xi award for distinguished teaching, Schwinger had a profound influence on the development of twentieth-century physics that reached far beyond the research advances embodied in his own papers and books. Schwinger was, among physicists of his time, uniquely influential as a teacher and mentor. His lectures were elegant, lucid, and inspiring. His course lectures form the basis for graduate instruction throughout the world. The mathematical techniques he developed and applied so creatively are a part of every theorist's arsenal. He directed more than seventy doctoral theses and thereby became the intellectual leader of at least four generations of physicists. To his own students he gave much more than guidance on their research. He gave them a depth of understanding, a respect for rigor, and a mastery of the field that permitted each to become, not a Schwinger disciple, but an independent scientist, each in his or her own way.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Schwinger received numerous international awards and honors for his research. A member of the National Academy of Science for more than forty-five years, in 1949 he was awarded the academy's Nature of Light Prize. In 1951, Schwinger shared the first Albert Einstein Prize with mathematician Kurt Godel. The same year he received the Columbia University Medal for his work on quantum electrodynamics. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson awarded him the newly created National Medal of Science.
A gentle, cultivated man of broad interests, Julian is also remembered by colleagues for his love of music and of good food and wine and for his devotion to tennis and skiing. He will be deeply missed by his innumerable friends throughout the world.
Julian is survived by his wife of forty-seven years, Clarice (Carrol) Schwinger. A very private person, he relied strongly on Clarice. Her love and support provided an environment in which he flourished.
Robert Finkelstein
Margaret Kivelson
David Saxon
This University of California obituary is available at THIS LINK