Gates, S. James (Sylvester James)
Oral history interview with Sylvester James Gates, Jr., 2020 July 30 and August 3.
Interview with Sylvester James Gates, Jr., Ford Foundation Professor of Physics and Director of the Theoretical Physics Center at Brown University. Gates discusses his preparations to lead the APS and the value of his service for PCAST for this new role. Gates recounts his family heritage and he discusses his fathers military service and the death of his mother. He explains how his family navigated racist challenges during his upbringing in El Paso and then in Orlando and how he navigated his own intellectual abilities in school. Gates explains his interest in physics in high school and the opportunities that led to his admission at MIT for his undergraduate work. He recounts the many mentors who made a positive impression on him and he explains his realization that his specialty would be at the boundary between math and physics. Gates describes his earliest interactions with string theory and he explains his decision to remain at MIT for his graduate work to work with Jim Young on supersymmetry. He paints a broader picture of supergravity research at this time and the rising importance of computers for this work. Gates describes his postdoctoral research at Harvard as a Junior Fellow, where he worked closely with Warren Siegel, and he describes his decision to join the faculty at MIT after a subsequent postdoctoral position at Caltech. He addresses Shelly Glashows criticism of string theory, and he explains his decision to leave MIT for a faculty position at the University of Maryland. Gates reflects on his teaching and mentoring career at Maryland, he describes his time at Howard University, and he discusses the broader issue of diversity in physics and AIPs TEAM-UP Report. He describes his more recent interests in graph theory and the broader effort to unify gravity with the other forces. Gates reflects on how he became an advisor to President Obama for PCAST and how he worked with John Holdren to translate reports into policy changes. He explains his decision to go emeritus at Maryland and to take a new position at Brown, and why joining the Watson Institute was an attractive part of the offer. Gates reflects on assuming leadership at APS during the twin crises of Covid and racial strife, he surveys the state of string theory and high energy physics, and he explains why supersymmetry might offer a path to understanding dark matter. At the end of the interview, Jim conveys his hope that his work in math will yield deep insights into nature, and he considers the possibility of pursuing an autobiographical project.
Sylvester James Gates, Jr. is the Ford Foundation Professor of Physics and Director of the Theoretical Physics Center at Brown University, as well as the current President of the American Physical Society. Gates was formerly a Regents Professor at the University of Maryland and served on President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Gates completed his doctoral studies at MIT and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard and Caltech.
Freedman, Daniel Z.,
Gates, S. James (Sylvester James)
Glashow, Sheldon L.
Grisaru, Marc, 1929-
Holdren, John P.
Jackson, Shirley Ann, 1946-
McNair, Ronald E., 1950-1986
Popper, Karl Raimund, Sir, 1902-
Ro ek, M.
Salam, Abdus, 1926-1996
Schwarz, John H.
Siegel, Warren, Professor
Van Nieuwenhuizen, Peter,
Varmus, Harold
Witten, E.
Young, James Edward, 1926-
American Physical Society
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Dartmouth College
Harvard University.
Howard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (U.S.)
University of Maryland, College Park
African American physicists
Dark matter (Astronomy)
Diversity in higher education
Quantum chromodynamics
Racism -- United States
Science and state
String models.
Supergravity
Supersymmetry
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Zierler, David, 1979- interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA