About
Julian Schwinger was an American theoretical physicist, born in New York City and died in Los Angeles. A child prodigy, he published his first paper at 16 and earned his PhD from Columbia at 21. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Richard Feynman and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga for his work on quantum electrodynamics, particularly the renormalization of mass and charge. A professor at Harvard from 1947, he supervised over 70 doctoral students, four of whom became Nobel laureates. He also developed the quantum action principle and later the source theory.
* 1918-02-12 — † 1994-07-16
Major works
- Quantum Electrodynamics I, II, III (1948-1949)scientific paper
- On Gauge Invariance and Vacuum Polarization (1950)scientific paper
- Source Theorytheoretical work
Key milestones
- 1936Earned his B.A. from Columbia University at age 17.
- 1947Became a full professor at Harvard, one of the youngest in the university's history.
- 1965Shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Richard Feynman and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga.
Themes
Quantum electrodynamicsRenormalizationQuantum action principleSource theoryQuantum mechanics
Sources: beta.nobelprize.org · beta.nobelprize.org · britannica.com