Hugh David Politzer facts for kids

Hugh David Politzer (born August 31, 1949) is an American scientist who studies theoretical physics. He is a professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 2004, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He shared this award with David Gross and Frank Wilczek. They won for discovering something called "asymptotic freedom" in quantum chromodynamics.

About Hugh David Politzer

Politzer was born in New York City. His parents were from a part of Europe that is now Slovakia. They came to the U.S. after World War II.

He went to the Bronx High School of Science. Then, he earned his first degree in physics from the University of Michigan in 1969. He later got his PhD from Harvard University in 1974. His advisor there was Sidney Coleman.

Discovering Asymptotic Freedom

In 1973, Politzer wrote his first important paper. In it, he described "asymptotic freedom." This idea explains how quarks behave. Quarks are tiny particles that make up protons and neutrons.

He found that the closer quarks are, the weaker the strong force between them. This force usually holds them together. But when quarks are very close, they act almost like free particles. This discovery was very important for understanding quantum chromodynamics. This is the theory that describes the strong force.

David Gross and Frank Wilczek also discovered this idea around the same time. They were working at Princeton University.

Predicting Charmonium

Politzer also helped predict a new particle. With another scientist named Thomas Appelquist, he worked on the idea of "charmonium." This is a subatomic particle. It is made of a charm quark and a charm antiquark.

Career and Awards

From 1974 to 1977, Politzer was a junior fellow at Harvard University. After that, he moved to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He is still a professor of theoretical physics there today.

In 1986, he received the J. J. Sakurai Prize. This award is for important work in theoretical particle physics. It is given by the American Physical Society.

In 2004, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He shared it with David J. Gross and Frank Wilczek. They were honored for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. This discovery helped us understand the strong interaction, which is one of the basic forces of nature.

In 2011, Politzer became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Fun Facts

Politzer enjoys playing the banjo. He has even studied the physics of how the instrument works.

In the 1980s, he was the lead singer for a band called Professor Politzer and the Rho Mesons. They even released a song called "The Simple Harmonic Oscillator."

Politzer also had a small role in the 1989 movie Fat Man and Little Boy. He played a physicist named Robert Serber.

See also

In Spanish: David Politzer para niños

• List of Jewish Nobel laureates