Val Telegdi

Biography

Abstract

Valentine Telegdi was a Professor at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) (1976-1989). Other institutional affiliations included the University of Chicago. His research interests included weak and electromagnetic interactions of elementary particles.

Important Dates

January 11, 1922Birth, Budapest (Hungary).

1946Obtained MSc, University of Lausanne, Lausanne (Switzerland).

1948Visiting Member, H. H. Wills Laboratory, University of Bristol.

1950Obtained PhD in Physics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich (Switzerland).

1950 – 1976Instructor to Professor (1950-1971) and Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor (1971-1976), University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).

1953Visiting Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology.

1953 – 1954Lecturer, Northwestern University.

1959 – 1960National Science Foundation (NSF) and Ford Foundation Fellow, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

1966Loeb Visiting Professor, Harvard University.

1968Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1976 – 1989Professor, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich (Switzerland).

1978 – 2006Visiting Professor, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (Calif.).

1991Awarded Wolf Foundation Prize in Physics.

1995Awarded Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize, American Physical Society.

April 8, 2006Death, Pasadena (Calif.).

Occupation

Particle physicist.

Places

Birth

Budapest (Hungary)

Graduate Education

Lausanne (Switzerland)

Zurich (Switzerland)

Employment

Chicago (Ill.)

Zurich (Switzerland)

Pasadena (Calif.)

Death

Pasadena (Calif.)

Subjects

Electromagnets.

Elementary particles.

Particles (Nuclear physics).

Weak interactions (Nuclear physics).

Relationships

People

Family

Csillag, Ella, 1897-

Mother.

Telegdi, Georges, 1897-

Father.

Telegdi, Lidia Leonardi

Wife.

Advisors & Collaborators

Scherrer, Paul

PhD advisor at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, "Untersuchung der Photospaltung von Kohlenstoff C-12 in drei Alphateilchen."

Colleagues

Allison, Samuel King, 1900-1965

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Anderson, Herbert Lawrence

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Cohen, Morrel H.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Crewe, Albert V.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Cronin, James W., 1931-2016

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Dempster, Arthur Jeffrey

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Falicov, L. M. (Leopoldo Maximo), 1933-1995

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Fano, Ugo

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Fisk, Zachary

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Friedman, Jerome I. (Jerome Isaac), 1930-

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Fritzsche, Hellmut

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Garwin, Richard L.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Goldberger, Marvin L.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Koshiba, Masatoshi, 1926-2020

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Mayer, Maria Goeppert, 1906-1972

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Mulliken, Robert Sanderson

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Nambu, Yoichiro, 1921-2015

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Phillips, J. C.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Sachs, Robert Green, 1916-

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Schrieffer, J. R. (John Robert), 1931-

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Shochet, Melvyn J.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Simpson, John A. (John Alexander), 1916-2000

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Szilard, Leo

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Treiman, Sam B.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Tsui, D. C. (Daniel Chee), 1939-

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Wald, Robert M.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Wentzel, Gregor, 1898-1978

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Zener, Clarence, 1905-

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Additional

Boehm, Felix

Feynman, Richard P. (Richard Phillips), 1918-1988

Gell-Mann, Murray

Lederman, Leon M.

Touschek, Bruno, 1921-

Weisskopf, Victor Frederick, 1908-2002

Wu, C. S. (Chien-shiung), 1912-1997

Institutions

Major Positions

California Institute of Technology. Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy

Visiting Research Fellow and Visiting Professor.

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Departement Physik

Obtained PhD (1950). Professor.

Harvard University. Department of Physics

Loeb Visiting Professor.

Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Department of Physics

Lecturer.

University of Chicago. Department of Physics

Instructor to Professor and Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Physical Society

Received 1995 Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize.

Columbia University. Department of Physics

European Organization for Nuclear Research

National Science Foundation (NSF) and Ford Foundation Fellow.

Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.)

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

United States. National Bureau of Standards

Université de Lausanne

Obtained MSc (1946).

University of Bristol. Department of Physics

Visiting Member, H. H. Wills Laboratory.

Wolf Foundation Prizes

Received 1991 Wolf Foundation Prize in Physics.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Oral history interview with Valentine L. Telegdi, 2008 March 4 and 9.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Selected talks from the International Conference on the History of Original Ideas and Basic Discoveries in Particle Physics [sound recording] / 1994.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

Bruno Touschek papers, 1947-1978.

Dipartimento di Fisica

Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Rome, Italy

Leon Lederman retirement symposium [videorecording].

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Murray Gell-Mann papers, 1931-2001 (bulk 1955-1993).

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Published Resources

Author

"The Early Experiments Leading to the V-A Interaction," in Pions to Quarks: Particle Physics in the 1950s, ed. Laurie M. Brown, Max Dresden, and Lillian Hoddeson (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press: 1989), 464-484

University of Chicago graduate problems in physics, with solutions [by] Jeremiah A. Cronin, David F. Greenberg [and] Valentine L. Telegdi.

Subject

"A Conversation with Valentine L. Telegdi, Part I," Physics in Perspective 9 (2007): 434-467

"A Conversation with Valentine L. Telegdi, Part II," Physics in Perspective 10 (2008): 77-109

"Valentine Louis Telegdi: 1922-2006", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences

Valentine Louis Telegdi Physics Today obituary.