
Climbing the Mountain
The Scientific Biography of Julian Schwinger
Oxford University Press
Published on 22. June 2000
Book
Hardback
704 pages
978-0-19-850658-4 (ISBN)
Description
Julian Schwinger was one of the leading theoretical physicists of the twentieth century. His contributions are as important, and as pervasive, as those of Richard Feynman, with whom (and with Sin-itiro Tomonaga) he shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physics. Yet, while Feynman is universally recognized as a cultural icon, Schwinger is little known even to many within the physics community. In his youth, Julian Schwinger was a nuclear physicist, turning to classical electrodynamics after World War II. In the years after the war, he was the first to renormalize quantum electrodynamics. Subsequently, he presented the most complete formulation of quantum field theory and laid the foundations for the electroweak synthesis of Glashow, Weinberg, and Salam, and he made fundamental contributions to the theory of nuclear magnetic resonance, to many-body theory, and to quantum optics. He developed a unique approach to quantum mechanics, measurement algebra, and a general quantum action principle. His discoveries include 'Feynman's' parameters and 'Glauber's' coherent states; in later years he also developed an alternative to operator field theory which he called Source Theory, reflecting his profound phenomenological bent. His late work on the Thomas-Fermi model of atoms and on the Casimir effect continues to be an inspiration to a new generation of physicists. This biography describes the many strands of his research life, while tracing the personal life of this private and gentle genius.
Reviews / Votes
'... a through and comprehensive account of Schwinger's life and work... a valuable testament to the life and legacy of Julian Schwinger' Physics World '... the first full-length biography of Julian Schwinger ... scholarly and well done. The influence of Julian Schwinger on the physics of his time has been profound"' Cern CourierMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
frontispiece, 34 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 242 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
1371 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-850658-4 (9780198506584)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
08/2003
Oxford University Press
€124.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Jagdish Mehra is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Houston, Texas, and recently served as the UNESCO-Sir Julian Huxley Distinguished Professor of Physics and the History of Science with UNESCO in Paris and Trieste. He is the author of The Beat of a Different Drum: A Scientific Biography of Richard Feynman. Kimball Milton is Professor of Physics at the University of Oklahoma.
Content
APPENDIX A: JULIAN SCHWINGER - LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ; APPENDIX B: PH.D. STUDENTS OF JULIAN SCHWINGER ; INDEX