Steven Weinberg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Steven Weinberg
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Weinberg at the 2010 Texas Book Festival
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| Born | May 3, 1933 New York City, New York, U.S.
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| Died | July 23, 2021 (aged 88) Austin, Texas, U.S.
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Louise Goldwasser
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| Children | 1 |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical Physics |
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| Thesis | The role of strong interactions in decay processes (1957) |
| Doctoral advisor | Sam Treiman |
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Steven Weinberg (May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979. He shared the award with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow. They were honored for their work on unifying two of nature's fundamental forces. These were the weak force and electromagnetic force. This work helped explain how elementary particles interact.
Weinberg held a special teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin. He was part of the Physics and Astronomy Departments. His studies focused on tiny particles and the universe's origins. He received many awards for his work. In 2004, he was called "the preeminent theoretical physicist alive in the world today." He was a member of important science groups like the US National Academy of Sciences and Britain's Royal Society.
Weinberg also wrote articles for magazines like The New York Review of Books. He advised the U.S. government on arms control. He was involved in many other important groups and committees.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Steven Weinberg was born in 1933 in New York City. His parents were immigrants. His father worked in a court, and his mother was a housewife. At 16, he became interested in science from a chemistry set. He graduated from Bronx High School of Science in 1950. His classmate, Sheldon Lee Glashow, would later share the Nobel Prize with him.
Weinberg earned his first degree from Cornell University in 1954. He then studied at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. He later moved to Princeton University. There, he earned his Ph.D. in physics in 1957. His main project was about how strong forces affect particle decay.
Groundbreaking Research and Career
After his Ph.D., Weinberg worked at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley. He became a professor at Berkeley in 1960. He studied many areas of particle physics. These included how quantum fields behave and how symmetry breaks in nature. He also started writing a textbook on general relativity. This was after the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
In 1966, Weinberg moved to Harvard and then to MIT. In 1967, he proposed a major theory. It unified electromagnetism and the nuclear weak forces. These weak forces are involved in processes like beta-decay. His theory explained how the particles that carry these weak forces get their mass. It also predicted the existence of the Higgs boson.
Weinberg's theory is now called the electroweak unification theory. It showed that these two forces are actually different aspects of one force. Glashow had proposed a similar idea. In 1973, scientists found experimental proof of this theory. They discovered "neutral currents," which are interactions carried by the Z boson. Weinberg's paper on this theory is one of the most important in high-energy physics.
After 1967, Weinberg continued to work on many areas of physics. He contributed to the development of the Standard Model. This model describes all known elementary particles and forces. In 1979, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. He shared it with Sheldon Glashow and Abdus Salam. They were recognized for their independent work on electroweak unification.
In 1982, Weinberg moved to the University of Texas at Austin. He helped build a leading theoretical physics group there. Many physicists consider Weinberg one of the most important figures in theoretical particle physics. He helped shape our understanding of the universe.
Public Engagement and Views
Besides his scientific work, Weinberg was a strong voice for science. He spoke to Congress to support big science projects. He wrote articles for magazines and gave talks about the meaning of science. His popular science books explained complex ideas. They also explored the history and philosophy of science.
His first popular science book, The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe (1977), described the Big Bang. It explained how the universe began and is expanding. Later in his life, he wrote about the history of science. His book To Explain the World (2015) explored how modern science developed.
Weinberg taught at the University of Texas until his death. He was known for opposing a law that allowed concealed guns in classrooms. He stated he would not allow guns in his own classes.
Personal Life
Steven Weinberg married Louise Weinberg in 1954. She became a law professor at the University of Texas. They had one daughter, Elizabeth. Weinberg passed away on July 23, 2021, in Austin, Texas, at age 88.
Political Views
Weinberg considered himself a liberal. He was also a strong supporter of Israel. He saw Israel as important in the conflict between democracies and religious governments. In 1997, he wrote an essay called "Zionism and Its Adversaries" to explain his views.
In the 2000s, he canceled trips to UK universities. This was because of British boycotts against Israel. He believed these boycotts showed a "moral blindness" and were a form of antisemitism.
Views on Religion
Weinberg was an atheist. He shared his thoughts on religion in 1999. He believed that good people can do good, and bad people can do evil. But for good people to do evil, he felt, "that takes religion."
Before he supported the Big Bang theory, he found the steady state theory appealing. He said it "least resembles the account given in Genesis."
Honors and Awards
- Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from eleven universities.
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1968.
- Fellow of the American Physical Society, 1971.
- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 1972.
- J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize, 1973.
- Richtmyer Memorial Award, 1974.
- Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, 1977.
- Steel Foundation Science Writing Award, 1977, for The First Three Minutes.
- Elliott Cresson Medal (Franklin Institute), 1979.
- Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979.
- Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1981.
- Elected to American Philosophical Society, 1982.
- James Madison Medal of Princeton University, 1991.
- National Medal of Science, 1991.
- President of the Philosophical Society of Texas, 1992.
- Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, 1999.
- Humanist of the Year, American Humanist Association, 2002.
- Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences, American Philosophical Society, 2004.
- James Joyce Award, University College Dublin, 2009.
- Breakthrough Prize, 2020.
See also
In Spanish: Steven Weinberg para niños
