John Stewart Bell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John S. Bell
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John Stewart Bell, CERN, 1973
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John Stewart Bell
28 June 1928 |
| Died | 1 October 1990 (aged 62) |
| Alma mater | Queen's University of Belfast (B.Sc.) University of Birmingham (Ph.D.) |
| Known for | Bell's theorem Bell state Superdeterminism Chiral anomaly Bell's spaceship paradox Quantum entanglement |
| Awards | Heineman Prize (1989) Hughes Medal (1989) Paul Dirac Medal and Prize (1988) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Atomic Energy Research Establishment CERN, Stanford University |
| Thesis | i. Time reversal in field theory, ii. Some functional methods in field theory. (1956) |
| Doctoral advisor | Rudolph E. Peierls |
John Stewart Bell FRS (28 June 1928 – 1 October 1990) was a Northern Irish physicist, and the originator of Bell's theorem, an important theorem in quantum physics regarding hidden variable theories.
Early life and work
John Bell was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. When he was 11 years old, he decided to be a scientist, and at 16 graduated from Belfast Technical High School. Bell then attended the Queen's University of Belfast, and obtained a bachelor's degree in experimental physics in 1948, and one in mathematical physics a year later. He went on to complete a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Birmingham in 1956, specialising in nuclear physics and quantum field theory.
In 1954, he married Mary Ross, also a physicist, whom he had met while working on accelerator physics at Malvern, UK.
Bell's career began with the UK Atomic Energy Research Establishment, near Harwell, Oxfordshire, known as AERE or Harwell Laboratory. After several years he moved to work for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN, Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire), in Geneva, Switzerland. There he worked almost exclusively on theoretical particle physics and on accelerator design, but found time to pursue a major avocation, investigating the foundations of quantum theory.
Death and legacy
Bell died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage in Geneva in 1990. It is widely claimed that unknown to Bell, that year he had been nominated for a Nobel Prize. .
- In 2008, the John Stewart Bell Prize was created by the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control at the University of Toronto. The award recognizes major advances relating to the foundations of quantum mechanics and to the applications of these principles.
- At the CERN site in Meyrin, close to Geneva, there is a street called Route Bell in honour of John Stewart Bell.
- A day was named after him, referring to the date he released Bell's Theorem, November 4.
- Since 2015, there is also a street named Bell's Theorem Crescent in his city of birth, Belfast.
- The John Bell House, named in his honour, finished construction in 2016 and houses over 400 students in Belfast city centre.
- The pedestrian entrance to the Olympia leisure centre in Belfast located 200 meters from Bell's childhood home is named the "John Stewart Bell Entrance" in honour of the local man.
- In the Queen's University of Belfast one of the Physics lecture theatres is named in honour of John Stewart Bell
Images for kids
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Blue plaque honouring John Bell at the Queen's University of Belfast
See also
In Spanish: John S. Bell para niños
