Related papers: Julian Schwinger (1918-1994)
After revisiting some high points of particle physics and QFT of the two decades from 1960 to 1980, I comment on the work by Jorge Andre Swieca. I explain how it fits into the quantum field theory during these two decades and draw attention…
The theory of Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics was created (or discovered) back in the 1920's mainly by Schr\"odinger and Heisenberg, but it is fair enough to say that a more modern and unified approach to the subject was introduced by…
In this note, we discuss a historical point regarding Schr\"odinger's discovery of the famous quantum wave equation in 1926 following de Broglie's fundamental works published in 1923-1925 regarding the introduction of matter waves. Drawing…
Physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard P. Feynman once remarked ``We choose to examine a phenomenon which is impossible, absolutely impossible, to explain in any classical way, and which has in it the heart of quantum mechanics. In reality,…
We discuss the discovery of the relativistic wave equation for a spin-zero charged particle in the Coulomb field by Erwin Schr\"odinger (and elaborate on why he didn't publish it).
Half a century ago, Ihor Yukhnovskii elaborated a method of studying the critical point of the three-dimensional Ising model based on a layer-by-layer integration in the space of collective variables. His method was an alternative to that…
In February 1978 Julian Schwinger's 60th birthday was celebrated with a SchwingerFest at UCLA. This article consists of transcripts of historical talks given there.
From 1929 to his death in 1944, A. Eddington worked on developing a highly ambitious theory of fundamental physics that covered everything in the physical world, from the tiny electron to the universe at large. His unfinished theory…
Sir Arthur Eddington is considered one of the greatest astrophysicist of the twentieth century and yet he gained a stigma when, in the 1930s, he embarked on a quest to develop a unified theory of gravity and quantum mechanics. His attempts…
This paper is dedicated to the memory of Vilen Mitrofanovich Strutinsky who would have been 80 this year. His achievements in theoretical nuclear physics are briefly summarized. I discuss in more detail the most successful and far-reaching…
Commented translation of the paper "Universelle Bedeutung des Wirkungsquantums", published by Jun Ishiwara in German in the Proceedings of Tokyo Mathematico-Physical Society 8 106-116 (1915). In his work, Ishiwara, tenured at Sendai…
Erwin Schrodinger (1939) proved that quantum wave functions coevolve with the curved spacetime of the Friedmann universe. Schrodinger's derivation explains the Hubble redshift of photons in an expanding universe, the energy changes of…
Starting from the earlier notions of stationary action principles, we show how Schwinger's Quantum Action Principle descended from Dirac's formulation, which independently led Feynman to his path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics.…
Freeman J. Dyson, a brilliant theoretical physicist and a gifted mathematician, passed away on 28 February 2020 at the age of 96. A vignette of his outstanding contributions to physical sciences, ranging from the subject of quantum…
From its very beginning, Quantum Theory developed contrary to the intentions of its creators. For Max Planck it marks the failure of a long-term research program, in which he tried to understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics…
One of the greatest scientific achievements of physics in the 20th century is the discovery of quantum mechanics. The Schrodinger equation is the most fundamental equation in quantum mechanics describing the time-based evolution of the…
The origin of quantum physics was the discovery of the base unit of electromagnetic action $h$ by Max Planck in 1900 when he analyzed the experimental results of the black body radiation. This permitted Albert Einstein a few years later to…
The onset and the development of the concept of exchange force in quantum physics are historically reconstructed, starting from Heisenberg's seminal contributions in 1926 and going through the great developments in nuclear physics, which…
Simon van der Meer was a brilliant scientist and a true giant in the field of accelerators. His seminal contributions to accelerator science are essential to this day in our quest to satisfy the demands of modern particle physics. Whether…
The author recollects Sergio Fubini's impact on field theory (radial quantization, merons, conformal quantum mechanics) and on MIT.