[HN Gopher] Steven Weinberg Has Died
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Steven Weinberg Has Died
Author : zrkrlc
Score : 141 points
Date : 2021-07-24 07:33 UTC (15 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (twitter.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
| oefrha wrote:
| _Dreams of a Final Theory_ was one of the most influential texts
| that motivated me into theoretical high energy physics. Sad.
| danellis wrote:
| Whenever I see his name, I always think of this. I forget who
| it's credited to.
|
| Steve Weinberg returning from Texas
|
| Brings dimensions galore to perplex us
|
| But the extra ones all
|
| Are rolled up in a ball
|
| So tiny they barely affect us
| mark_l_watson wrote:
| Sad news. I mostly remember him from my early childhood. He and
| my Dad were in the Physics Department at Berkeley. He and his
| beautiful and charming wife were often at my parents' parties. My
| condolences to his family.
| dctoedt wrote:
| Never knew him, but I was in the very first course (IIRC) that
| his wife Louise taught at UT Law; she was extremely sharp (and
| kind, to boot).
| evanb wrote:
| UT Austin press release: https://news.utexas.edu/2021/07/24/ut-
| austin-mourns-death-of...
| thoughty wrote:
| He was the one who gave the theory the name "Standard Model" -
| which in my opinion is such an understatement to a theory that
| unifies EM & Weak forces. He was a great story teller too. will
| be missed.
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| > The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few
| things which lifts human life a little above the level of farce
| and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.
|
| Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes
| 8eye wrote:
| it's really sad that we average out at around 100 years currently
| at least. there is so much more we can understand the world
| around us, so much more we can discover in the world. anyways,
| rip weinberg, your legacy lives on.
| cout wrote:
| This is why it is important that we all learn to be both
| learners and teachers. We can learn so much about the world,
| but what we fill our minds with is lost when the mind is gone.
| What we teach to others lives on.
| steelframe wrote:
| > it's really sad that we average out at around 100 years
| currently at least.
|
| If we lived to 200, no doubt many would be saying how sad it is
| that we average out to around 200 years. To me, that we have
| what we have against all odds is anything but sad.
|
| I take Richard Dawkins' view on this.
|
| "We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most
| people are never going to die because they are never going to
| be born. The potential people who could have been here in my
| place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber
| the sand grains of Arabia."
| Ostrogodsky wrote:
| Sad news. Weinberg was the kind of scientist I like the most:
| very important results in his career, deep love for what he did
| and an absolutely no non-sense attitude. It was pretty
| inspirational to see him always so lucid well into his 80s. Rest
| in peace professor.
| effie wrote:
| Personal observation.
|
| Steven Weinberg made his career as an accomplished disciple of
| orthodox quantum theoretical physics, making it to the top of the
| physics/social food chain via hard work developing quantum field
| theory and getting acknowledged as one of the fathers of Standard
| Model. But all this without really "rocking the boat" of quantum
| theory. For a long time he believed quantum theory is fine and
| was not interested in the deeper questions about it.
|
| He eventually came around and realized and acknowledged that
| quantum theory has serious systemic problems of
| arbitrariness/internal consistency related to dichotomy unitary
| evolution/measurement, to dismay of some self-assured fanboys of
| QT orthodoxy. This gets him to the Feynman/Schwinger level, as in
| "did lots of great work, inspired lots of people, and realized
| the standard narratives have serious problems and wasn't afraid
| to say it and go his own way".
|
| His last textbook _Lectures on Quantum Mechanics_ is one of the
| few extraordinarily notable textbooks on quantum theory that came
| out in last decades. If you want to get deeper into QT after you
| get through the standard superficial and hand-wavy college
| course, this is a very good and concise book.
| gonghour wrote:
| Actually, Weinberg's last textbook, Foundations of Modern
| Physics, has just been published recently.
| https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Modern-Physics-Steven-Wei...
| Maro wrote:
| Thanks for the link!
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Miguel Virasoro passed away the other day too. A sad week for
| physics.
| Ostrogodsky wrote:
| Bummer. Long live his algebra.
| auntienomen wrote:
| It'll survive. Plays a big role in organizing the behavior of
| fields on the celestial sphere.
| ssivark wrote:
| I'll share what to me was one of the most impressive aspects of
| Weinberg's work. I've seen him described as a battle tank -- not
| the fastest to get moving, but basically unstoppable once he
| does.
|
| As I was digging into the literature during my research, I
| noticed an interesting pattern to his work over the decades.
| There would erupt a "hot" area in applying quantum field theory,
| and have lots of back and forth and papers making claims,
| correcting each other, and being corrected. And then a few
| months/years later would come a Weinberg paper, handling the
| matter so systematically & thoroughly that there likely won't be
| any more low-hanging fruit in the area!
|
| The whole thing was really impressive given that he worked
| largely by himself (most of his papers are single-author), and
| had among the highest average citation count I've seen for a
| theoretical physicist. There is a reason his quantum field theory
| textbook series is highly respected -- he wrought the field piece
| by piece with his own hands.
|
| Finally, he was an extremely articulate writer, and I have a huge
| soft spot for his "Dreams of a final theory" -- especially his
| comments on the relationship between theory & experiment, and the
| scientific method more generally. I really wish more people read
| that and got influenced by its depth and nuance.
| guidoism wrote:
| The First Three Minutes is one of my favorite books. I keep go
| back to it.
| prvc wrote:
| I read "Dreams of a Final Theory" as a child, and have been
| contemplating some of the philosophical questions posed therein
| ever since. RIP.
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