Julian Schwinger

“Julian Seymour Schwinger (/ˈʃwɪŋər/; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

Schwinger is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, responsible for much of modern quantum field theory, including a variational approach, and the equations of motion for quantum fields. He developed the first electroweak model, and the first example of confinement in 1+1 dimensions. He is responsible for the theory of multiple neutrinos, Schwinger terms, and the theory of the spin-3/2 field.”

A post on the electric internet suggests that Julian Schwinger is the greatest scientist since Einstein, but is greatly under-rated. Certainly the latter is true as far as I am concerned; I scarcely know the name, and I couldn’t have told you what he worked on before this morning.

So why is this person so little spoken of, at least in the pop-science area?

The Rev Dodgson said:

Julian Schwinger

“Julian Seymour Schwinger (/ˈʃwɪŋər/; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

Schwinger is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, responsible for much of modern quantum field theory, including a variational approach, and the equations of motion for quantum fields. He developed the first electroweak model, and the first example of confinement in 1+1 dimensions. He is responsible for the theory of multiple neutrinos, Schwinger terms, and the theory of the spin-3/2 field.”

A post on the electric internet suggests that Julian Schwinger is the greatest scientist since Einstein, but is greatly under-rated. Certainly the latter is true as far as I am concerned; I scarcely know the name, and I couldn’t have told you what he worked on before this morning.

So why is this person so little spoken of, at least in the pop-science area?

No idea, sorry.

also worth remembering Lise, now that scientist was something

Michael V said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Julian Schwinger

“Julian Seymour Schwinger (/ˈʃwɪŋər/; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

Schwinger is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, responsible for much of modern quantum field theory, including a variational approach, and the equations of motion for quantum fields. He developed the first electroweak model, and the first example of confinement in 1+1 dimensions. He is responsible for the theory of multiple neutrinos, Schwinger terms, and the theory of the spin-3/2 field.”

A post on the electric internet suggests that Julian Schwinger is the greatest scientist since Einstein, but is greatly under-rated. Certainly the latter is true as far as I am concerned; I scarcely know the name, and I couldn’t have told you what he worked on before this morning.

So why is this person so little spoken of, at least in the pop-science area?

No idea, sorry.

One of his simplest equations is

Einstein’s is much easier to understand as E = mc².

The Rev Dodgson said:

Julian Schwinger

“Julian Seymour Schwinger (/ˈʃwɪŋər/; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

Schwinger is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, responsible for much of modern quantum field theory, including a variational approach, and the equations of motion for quantum fields. He developed the first electroweak model, and the first example of confinement in 1+1 dimensions. He is responsible for the theory of multiple neutrinos, Schwinger terms, and the theory of the spin-3/2 field.”

A post on the electric internet suggests that Julian Schwinger is the greatest scientist since Einstein, but is greatly under-rated. Certainly the latter is true as far as I am concerned; I scarcely know the name, and I couldn’t have told you what he worked on before this morning.

So why is this person so little spoken of, at least in the pop-science area?

maybe his work was too esoteric to fit the pop-sci culture. I have heard of him.

SCIENCE said:

also worth remembering Lise, now that scientist was something

Never ‘eard of him (or her).

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

also worth remembering Lise, now that scientist was something

Never ‘eard of him (or her).

Lise Meitner (Physicist)?

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

also worth remembering Lise, now that scientist was something

Never ‘eard of him (or her).

Clue: Lise Meitner

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

also worth remembering Lise, now that scientist was something

Never ‘eard of him (or her).

Lise Meitner.

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

also worth remembering Lise, now that scientist was something

Never ‘eard of him (or her).

QED

oh wait

SCIENCE said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

also worth remembering Lise, now that scientist was something

Never ‘eard of him (or her).

QED

oh wait

I hope you are a little less obscure with your intended meaning when interacting with your students.

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Never ‘eard of him (or her).

QED

oh wait

I hope you are a little less obscure with your intended meaning when interacting with your students.

though that reference isn’t obscure.

JudgeMental said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

QED

oh wait

I hope you are a little less obscure with your intended meaning when interacting with your students.

though that reference isn’t obscure.

Well I know what the the letters QED usually stand for, and when they are usually used, but the intended message when combined with “oh wait” is a total mystery to me.

Can you enlighten me?

The Rev Dodgson said:

JudgeMental said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I hope you are a little less obscure with your intended meaning when interacting with your students.

though that reference isn’t obscure.

Well I know what the the letters QED usually stand for, and when they are usually used, but the intended message when combined with “oh wait” is a total mystery to me.

Can you enlighten me?

I guess it is just the juxtaposition of the two meanings of QED.

JudgeMental said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

JudgeMental said:

though that reference isn’t obscure.

Well I know what the the letters QED usually stand for, and when they are usually used, but the intended message when combined with “oh wait” is a total mystery to me.

Can you enlighten me?

I guess it is just the juxtaposition of the two meanings of QED.

all good

we mean you can call literally being embedded in a thread about one meaning, juxtaposed with the usual meaning all in context, obscure

but that would be an atypical interpretation of obscure

maybe we could even call it a superposition, but this is not a Latin square ∎

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Well I know what the the letters QED usually stand for, and when they are usually used, but the intended message when combined with “oh wait” is a total mystery to me.

Can you enlighten me?

I guess it is just the juxtaposition of the two meanings of QED.

all good

we mean you can call literally being embedded in a thread about one meaning, juxtaposed with the usual meaning all in context, obscure

but that would be an atypical interpretation of obscure

maybe we could even call it a superposition, but this is not a Latin square ∎

Do you think he craves the attention of millions of facebook supporters? He is probably very happy with the things as they are, in his field he has all the recognition he wants or needs.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Julian Schwinger

“Julian Seymour Schwinger (/ˈʃwɪŋər/; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

Schwinger is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, responsible for much of modern quantum field theory, including a variational approach, and the equations of motion for quantum fields. He developed the first electroweak model, and the first example of confinement in 1+1 dimensions. He is responsible for the theory of multiple neutrinos, Schwinger terms, and the theory of the spin-3/2 field.”

A post on the electric internet suggests that Julian Schwinger is the greatest scientist since Einstein, but is greatly under-rated. Certainly the latter is true as far as I am concerned; I scarcely know the name, and I couldn’t have told you what he worked on before this morning.

So why is this person so little spoken of, at least in the pop-science area?

I vaguely recognise the name, was he one of the two physicists who shared the Nobel with Feynman?

Yes!

“In 1965, Feynman shared the 1965 Nobel prize in physics with Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichirō Tomonaga for “Fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles””.

I still have a memory. Good.

Feynman, Schwinger and Tomonaga independently solved the problem of quantum electrodynamics. But whereas Schwinger and Tomonaga solved it using the classical method of differential equations, Feynman is famous for solving it using integral equations. Feynman’s equations, which can be easily reduced to Feynman diagrams, use a symmetry that halved the workload of calculation. Thus is it Feynman diagrams rather than Schwinger’s equations, that are taught at university these days.

PermeateFree said:

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

I guess it is just the juxtaposition of the two meanings of QED.

all good

we mean you can call literally being embedded in a thread about one meaning, juxtaposed with the usual meaning all in context, obscure

but that would be an atypical interpretation of obscure

maybe we could even call it a superposition, but this is not a Latin square ∎

Do you think he craves the attention of millions of facebook supporters? He is probably very happy with the things as they are, in his field he has all the recognition he wants or needs.

He’s dead. died 1994.

JudgeMental said:

PermeateFree said:

SCIENCE said:

all good

we mean you can call literally being embedded in a thread about one meaning, juxtaposed with the usual meaning all in context, obscure

but that would be an atypical interpretation of obscure

maybe we could even call it a superposition, but this is not a Latin square ∎

Do you think he craves the attention of millions of facebook supporters? He is probably very happy with the things as they are, in his field he has all the recognition he wants or needs.

He’s dead. died 1994.

Indeed, we got a sense of projection from the earlier comment, but anyway,

our interpretation of the initial post was that the deficit was in attention compared to deserved, not wanted.

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

PermeateFree said:

Do you think he craves the attention of millions of facebook supporters? He is probably very happy with the things as they are, in his field he has all the recognition he wants or needs.

He’s dead. died 1994.

Indeed, we got a sense of projection from the earlier comment, but anyway,

our interpretation of the initial post was that the deficit was in attention compared to deserved, not wanted.

I agree. We really hear of very few scientists.

JudgeMental said:

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

He’s dead. died 1994.

Indeed, we got a sense of projection from the earlier comment, but anyway,

our interpretation of the initial post was that the deficit was in attention compared to deserved, not wanted.

I agree. We really hear of very few scientists.

Oh, really?

Michael V said:

JudgeMental said:

SCIENCE said:

Indeed, we got a sense of projection from the earlier comment, but anyway,

our interpretation of the initial post was that the deficit was in attention compared to deserved, not wanted.

I agree. We really hear of very few scientists.

Oh, really?

Yes, really.

JudgeMental said:

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

He’s dead. died 1994.

Indeed, we got a sense of projection from the earlier comment, but anyway,

our interpretation of the initial post was that the deficit was in attention compared to deserved, not wanted.

I agree. We really hear of very few scientists.

There are many unsung heroes.

JudgeMental said:

PermeateFree said:

SCIENCE said:

all good

we mean you can call literally being embedded in a thread about one meaning, juxtaposed with the usual meaning all in context, obscure

but that would be an atypical interpretation of obscure

maybe we could even call it a superposition, but this is not a Latin square ∎

Do you think he craves the attention of millions of facebook supporters? He is probably very happy with the things as they are, in his field he has all the recognition he wants or needs.

He’s dead. died 1994.

Probably why I never knew him. :)

mollwollfumble said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Julian Schwinger

“Julian Seymour Schwinger (/ˈʃwɪŋər/; February 12, 1918 – July 16, 1994) was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

Schwinger is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, responsible for much of modern quantum field theory, including a variational approach, and the equations of motion for quantum fields. He developed the first electroweak model, and the first example of confinement in 1+1 dimensions. He is responsible for the theory of multiple neutrinos, Schwinger terms, and the theory of the spin-3/2 field.”

A post on the electric internet suggests that Julian Schwinger is the greatest scientist since Einstein, but is greatly under-rated. Certainly the latter is true as far as I am concerned; I scarcely know the name, and I couldn’t have told you what he worked on before this morning.

So why is this person so little spoken of, at least in the pop-science area?

I vaguely recognise the name, was he one of the two physicists who shared the Nobel with Feynman?

Yes!

“In 1965, Feynman shared the 1965 Nobel prize in physics with Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichirō Tomonaga for “Fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles””.

I still have a memory. Good.

Feynman, Schwinger and Tomonaga independently solved the problem of quantum electrodynamics. But whereas Schwinger and Tomonaga solved it using the classical method of differential equations, Feynman is famous for solving it using integral equations. Feynman’s equations, which can be easily reduced to Feynman diagrams, use a symmetry that halved the workload of calculation. Thus is it Feynman diagrams rather than Schwinger’s equations, that are taught at university these days.

To answer the original question “why is this person so little spoken of?”

It’s because he had the misfortune to publish in the same year as Feynman.
And Feynman’s solution is not only more radical, but easier to use.