James W. Cronin

Biography

Abstract

James Cronin was a Nobel laureate and National Medal of Science recipient. He contributed to the particle physics field with his research on weak interactions, K mesons, and CP (charge parity) violation. His institutional affiliations included Princeton University and University of Chicago.

Important Dates

September 29, 1931Birth, Chicago (Ill.).

1951Obtained BS, Southern Methodist University, Dallas (Tex.).

1953Obtained MS, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).

1955Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).

1955 – 1958Assistant Physicist, Brookhaven National Laboratory.

1958 – 1971Assistant Professor of Physics (1958-1962); Associate Professor of Physics (1962-1964); and Professor of Physics (1964-1971), Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).

1970Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1971 – presentProfessor of Physics (1971-1996) and Professor Emeritus of Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Physics (1996-present), University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).

1980Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics with Val Fitch "for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons".

1999Awarded National Medal of Science.

August 25, 2016Death.

Occupation

Nuclear physicist.

Places

Birth

Chicago (Ill.)

Undergraduate Education

Dallas (Tex.)

Graduate Education

Chicago (Ill.)

Employment

Princeton (N.J.)

Chicago (Ill.)

Subjects

Astronomy.

Mesons.

Nuclear physics.

Particles (Nuclear physics).

Relationships

People

Advisors & Collaborators

Allison, Samuel King, 1900-1965

PhD advisor in experimental nuclear physics at University of Chicago.

Fitch, Val L., 1923-2015

Shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of violations of fundamental symmetry principles in the decay of neutral K-mesons." Both employed at Princeton University.

Shochet, Melvyn J.

Advised by Cronin at University of Chicago, "An experimental study of the two-photon decays of the neutral K mesons," and both employed at University of Chicago.

Colleagues

Adair, Robert K., 1924-

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Adelberger, Eric G.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Anderson, Herbert Lawrence

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Bargmann, V. (Valentine), 1908-1989

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bertsch, George F.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bleakney, Walker, 1901-1992

Both employed at Princeton University.

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

Both employed at Princeton University.

Callan, Curtis G.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Chandrasekhar, S. (Subrahmanyan), 1910-1995

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Christ, Norman

Both employed at Princeton University.

Cohen, Morrel H.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Cool, Rodney L. (Rodney Lee), 1920-1988

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Coppersmith, Susan Nan

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Courant, Ernest D. (Ernest David), 1920-

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Crewe, Albert V.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Davis, Raymond, 1914-2006

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Dicke, Robert H. (Robert Henry)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Fano, Ugo

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Feinberg, Gerald, 1933-

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Fisk, Zachary

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Frazer, Benjamin Chalmers

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Fritzsche, Hellmut

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Goldberger, Marvin L.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Goldhaber, Gertrude S. -1998

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Goldhaber, Maurice, 1911-2011

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Goudsmit, Samuel A. (Samuel Abraham), 1902-1978

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Gross, David J. (David Jonathan)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Hartle, J. B. (James B.)

Both employed at Princeton University and University of Chicago.

Haworth, Leland J. (Leland John), 1904-

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Hopfield, John J.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Kadanoff, Leo P.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Lederman, Leon M.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Libchaber, Albert J.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Massey, Walter E.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Misner, Charles W.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Mulliken, Robert Sanderson

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Nagel, Sidney R.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Nambu, Yoichiro, 1921-2015

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Parker, E. N. (Eugene Newman), 1927-

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Pines, David, 1924-2018

Both employed at Princeton University.

Pollock, Robert Elwood, 1936-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Poskanzer, A. M. (Arthur M.), 1931-

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Rosner, Robert

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Sachs, Robert Green, 1916-

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Schwartz, Melvin, 1932-2006

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Schwarz, John H.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Shenstone, A. G. (Allen Goodrich)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Shirane, G.

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Smyth, Henry De Wolf, 1898-1986

Both employed at Princeton University.

Tape, Gerald Frederick, 1915-2005

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Telegdi, Val, 1922-2006

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Thorne, Kip S.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Treiman, Sam B.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Turner, Michael Stanley

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Vineyard, G. H.

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Wald, Robert M.

Both employed at University of Chicago.

Warburton, Ernest Keeling

Both employed at Princeton University.

Weiss, Rainer

Both employed at Princeton University.

Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008

Both employed at Princeton University.

Wick, G. C. (Gian Carlo)

Both employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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

Both employed at Princeton University.

Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995

Both employed at Princeton University.

Wilkinson, David T.

Both employed at Princeton University.

York, James W., Jr., 1939-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Institutions

Major Positions

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Assistant Physicist.

Princeton University. Department of Physics

Assistant Professor of Physics; Associate Professor of Physics; and Professor of Physics.

University of Chicago. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

University of Chicago. Department of Physics

Obtained MS in 1953 and PhD in 1955. Professor of Physics and Professor Emeritus of Physics.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

American Physical Society

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Southern Methodist University

Obtained BS in 1951.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Proceedings [video recording] : talks presented at the Enrico Fermi Centennial celebration. 2001 September 29.

The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections

University of Chicago

1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Subject

Oral history interview with Mel Shochet, 1995 October 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

Fermi remembered / edited by James W. Cronin.

James Cronin Nobel Prize Autobiography.

The Discovery of CP Violation, in The Rise of the Standard Model: Particle Physics in the 1960s and 1970s (New York: Cambridge University Press: 1997), 114-136.

Subject

james W. Cronin Physics Today Obituary