Frank Wilczek facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Frank Wilczek
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Wilczek in 2004
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Frank Anthony Wilczek
May 15, 1951 Mineola, New York, U.S.
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| Education | University of Chicago (BS) Princeton University (MA, PhD) |
| Known for | Asymptotic freedom Quantum chromodynamics Particle statistics Axion model |
| Spouse(s) | Betsy Devine |
| Children | Amity and Mira |
| Awards | MacArthur Fellowship (1982) Sakurai Prize (1986) ICTP Dirac Medal (1994) Lorentz Medal (2002) Lilienfeld Prize (2003) Nobel Prize in Physics (2004) King Faisal Prize (2005) Templeton Prize (2022) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Mathematics |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Shanghai Jiao Tong University Arizona State University Stockholm University |
| Thesis | Non-abelian gauge theories and asymptotic freedom (1974) |
| Doctoral advisor | David Gross |
Frank Anthony Wilczek (born May 15, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist and mathematician. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics and is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also works at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Arizona State University, and Stockholm University.
In 2004, Wilczek, along with David Gross and H. David Politzer, received the Nobel Prize in Physics. They were honored for discovering "asymptotic freedom" in the theory of the strong interaction. In 2022, he won the Templeton Prize. This award recognized his work on the basic laws of nature. His research has changed how we understand the forces that control our universe.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Frank Wilczek was born in Mineola, New York. His grandparents came from Poland and Italy. His father taught himself engineering and inspired Frank's interest in science.
Wilczek grew up in Queens, New York. He went to Martin Van Buren High School. His parents realized he was very smart after he took an IQ test.
He skipped two grades and started high school at age 13. Two of his physics teachers inspired him greatly. In 1967, he was a finalist in a national science competition. He earned fourth place for a math project about group theory.
In 1970, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.
Wilczek then went to Princeton University to study math. After a year and a half, he switched to physics. His advisor was David Gross. He earned his Master of Arts in Mathematics in 1972. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton in 1974.
Personal Life
Wilczek met Betsy Devine at Princeton in 1972. They married in 1973 and have two daughters. His favorite physicist is James Clerk Maxwell.
Religious Views
Wilczek was raised Catholic. He later "lost faith in traditional religion." However, he said religion "had meant a lot to me as a teenager." He has been called an agnostic, but he prefers the term "pantheist."
Wilczek believes the world shows "beautiful ideas." He says this might inspire a spiritual view, but it doesn't require one.
Science Outreach and Activism
Wilczek is part of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Future of Life Institute. This group works to reduce big risks to humanity. This includes dangers from advanced AI.
In 2014, Wilczek, Stephen Hawking, and two others wrote a letter. They warned that creating AI could be the biggest event in human history. They added that it might also be the last, "unless we learn how to avoid the risks."
Wilczek also supports the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. This group wants to make the United Nations more democratic. He is on the board for Society for Science & the Public. He also helped start the Collegium of Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry.
Honors
In 1982, Frank Wilczek received a MacArthur Fellowship.
He became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1990. In 1993, he joined the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000.
Wilczek won the Lorentz Medal in 2002. He received the Lilienfeld Prize in 2003. In the same year, he got a medal from Charles University in Prague. He also shared the High Energy and Particle Physics Prize.
In 2004, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics. This was for discovering asymptotic freedom in the strong interaction. In 2005, he shared the King Faisal International Prize for Science. He also received the Golden Plate Award. In 2013, he got an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden. In 2022, he received the Templeton Prize. This award recognized his work showing the universe's "mathematical beauty."
Wilczek holds the Herman Feshbach Professorship of Physics at MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. He has also worked at other famous institutes.
Research
Wilczek's Nobel Prize was for asymptotic freedom. But he has also helped discover and develop other important ideas. These include axions, anyons, and color superconductivity. He has also worked on quantum field theory. His research covers condensed matter physics, astrophysics, and particle physics.
Asymptotic Freedom
In 1973, while a student at Princeton University, Wilczek worked with David Gross. Together, they discovered asymptotic freedom. This idea says that the closer quarks are, the weaker the strong interaction between them. When quarks are very close, the nuclear force is so weak they act almost like free particles. H. David Politzer also discovered this theory independently. This idea was very important for developing quantum chromodynamics.
Axions
An axion is a hypothetical elementary particle. If axions exist and have a very small mass, they could be part of cold dark matter. Dark matter is a mysterious substance that makes up a large part of the universe.
In 1977, scientists proposed a solution to a physics problem. This solution involved adding a new kind of symmetry. When this symmetry breaks, a new particle appears. Wilczek named this new particle the "axion." He named it after a brand of laundry detergent.
Scientists have tried to find axions in experiments. In 2020, a team in Italy found a signal that might be axions.
Anyons
In physics, an anyon is a type of quasiparticle. These particles only exist in two-dimensional systems. Anyons can have properties that are between those of fermions and bosons. They can even have a fraction of an electric charge. Wilczek named them "anyons" in 1982 because they can be "anything."
In 1977, physicists found that the usual rules for particles might not apply in two dimensions. In 1982, the fractional quantum Hall effect was discovered. Wilczek's ideas helped explain this effect. In 1984, Wilczek and others proved that anyons were needed to describe it.
In 2020, scientists reported that they had directly detected anyons.
Time Crystals
In 2012, Wilczek suggested the idea of a time crystal. A time crystal is a state of matter that repeats in time, not just in space. Think of a regular crystal like a diamond; its atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern in space. A time crystal would have a pattern that repeats over time.
In 2018, several research teams reported finding time crystals.
Current Research
Wilczek continues to research many areas of physics:
- Connecting theoretical ideas to what we can observe.
- How matter behaves at very high temperatures and densities.
- Applying particle physics to the study of the universe.
- Using field theory in condensed matter physics.
- The quantum theory of black holes.
See also
- Coupling unification
- Dark matter
- WIMP
- Quantum number
- Soliton
- Fractional statistics
- Hall effect
- MIT Physics Department
