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Table of Contents

Biography

AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjects

Relationships

PeopleInstitutions

Resources

Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as Subject

A. S. Wightman

Photo

Dates

March 30, 1922 – January 13, 2013

Authorized Form of Name

Wightman, A. S. (Arthur Strong), 1922-2013

Additional Forms of Names

Vaĭtman, A. S., 1922-2013

Wightman, Arthur S. (Arthur Strong), 1922-2013

Biography

Abstract

Arthur Wightman was Professor Emeritus at Princeton University (1992-2013). His research interests included quantum field theory.

Important Dates

March 30, 1922Birth, Rochester (N.Y.).

1942Obtained BA, Yale University, New Haven (Conn.).

1943 – 1944Instructor in Physics, Yale University.

1949Obtained PhD in Physics, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).

1949 – 2013Instructor to Professor of Physics (1949-1971); Thomas D. Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics (1971-1992); and Professor Emeritus (1992-2013), Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).

1951 – 1952National Research Council (NRC) Fellow, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Copenhagen.

1956 – 1957National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellow, University of Copenhagen.

1957Visiting Professor, University of Paris.

1963 – 1964Visitor, Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies, Bures-sur-Yvette.

1968 – 1969Visitor, Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies, Bures-sur-Yvette.

1969Awarded Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, American Physical Society.

1970Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1977 – 1978Visiting Professor, École Polytechnique.

1982Visiting Professor, University of Adelaide.

January 13, 2013Death, Edison (N.J. : Township).

Occupation

Mathematical physicist.

Places

Birth

Rochester (N.Y.)

Undergraduate Education

New Haven (Conn.)

Graduate Education

Princeton (N.J.)

Employment

Princeton (N.J.)

Death

Edison (N.J. : Township)

Subjects

Mathematical physics.

Quantum field theory.

Relationships

People

Family

Larsson, Anna-Greta

First Wife.

Popova-Wightman, Ludmilla G.

Second Wife.

Advisors & Collaborators

Ferrell, Richard A.

Advised by Wightman at Princeton University, "The fine structure of positronium."

Jaffe, Arthur, 1937-

Advised by Wightman at Princeton University, "Dynamics of a Cut-off Lambda Phi to the 4 Field Theory."

Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008

Ph.D. advisor at Princeton University on negative pi mesons in hydrogen. Both employed at Princeton University.

Colleagues

Adelberger, Eric G.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Aizenman, Michael

Both employed at Princeton University.

Al'tshuler, B. L.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Anderson, P. W. (Philip W.), 1923-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Austin, Robert H.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bargmann, V. (Valentine), 1908-1989

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bertsch, George F.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bialek, William S.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bleakney, Walker, 1901-1992

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bohm, David, 1917-1992

Both employed at Princeton University.

Brown, G. E. (Gerald Edward), 1926-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Callan, Curtis G.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Chaikin, Paul M.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Christ, Norman

Both employed at Princeton University.

Cronin, James W., 1931-2016

Both employed at Princeton University.

Dicke, Robert H. (Robert Henry)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Fitch, Val L., 1923-2015

Both employed at Princeton University.

Freedman, Stuart J.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Goldberger, Marvin L.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Gross, David J. (David Jonathan)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Haldane, F. Duncan M.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Happer, William, 1939-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Hartle, J. B. (James B.)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Hofstadter, Robert, 1915-1990

Both employed at Princeton University.

Hopfield, John J.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Kaspi, Victoria Michelle, 1967-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Libchaber, Albert J.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Lieb, Elliott H.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Misner, Charles W.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Page, Lyman A.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Pines, David, 1924-2018

Both employed at Princeton University.

Pollock, Robert Elwood, 1936-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Polyakov, A. M.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Randall, Lisa

Both employed at Princeton University.

Schiffer, Menahem

Both employed at Princeton University.

Schwarz, John H.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Shenstone, A. G. (Allen Goodrich)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Smyth, Henry De Wolf, 1898-1986

Both employed at Princeton University.

Taylor, Joseph H. (Joseph Hooton)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Thorne, Kip S.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Treiman, Sam B.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Warburton, Ernest Keeling

Both employed at Princeton University.

Waterman, Alan Tower, 1892-1967

Both employed at Yale University.

Weiss, Rainer

Both employed at Princeton University.

Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995

Both employed at Princeton University.

Wilczek, Frank

Both employed at Princeton University.

Wilkinson, David T.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Witherell, Michael S., 1949-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Witten, E.

Both employed at Princeton University.

York, James W., Jr., 1939-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Zeleny, John, 1872-

Both employed at Yale University.

Institutions

Major Positions

Princeton University. Department of Physics

Obtained PhD (1949). Instructor to Professor of Physics; Thomas D. Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics; and Professor Emeritus.

Yale University. Physics Department

Obtained BA (1942). Instructor in Physics.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Physical Society

Received 1969 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics.

Ecole polytechnique (France)

Visiting Professor.

Institut des hautes etudes scientifiques (Paris, France)

Visitor.

Københavns universitet

National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellow.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Niels Bohr institutet

National Research Council (NRC) Fellow.

Université de Paris

Visiting Professor.

University of Adelaide

Visiting Professor.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Gibbs Symposium records, 1964-1989.

Manuscript and Archives.

Yale University Library

Box 208240, New Haven, CT 06520, USA

Subject

Allen Shenstone autobiography, 1962.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Charles W. Misner, 2001 May 22.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

"The General Theory of Quantized Fields in the 1950s," in Pions to Quarks: Particle Physics in the 1950s, ed. Laurie M. Brown, Max Dresden, and Lillian Hoddeson (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press: 1989), 608-629

PCT, spin and statistics, and all that / R.F. Streater, A.S. Wightman.

The collected works of Eugene Paul Wigner.

Troubles in the external field problem for invariant wave equations; lectures. A. S. Wightman, session leader and reviewer.

Subject

Arthur Strong Wightman Physics Today obituary.

Arthur Wightman Princeton University obituary.

Princeton University Physics Department Memorial Page for Arthur Wightman