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Table of Contents

Biography

AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjects

Relationships

PeopleInstitutions

Resources

Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as Subject

Bryce S. DeWitt

Photo

Dates

January 8, 1923 – September 24, 2004

Authorized Form of Name

DeWitt, Bryce S. (Bryce Seligman), 1923-2004

Additional Forms of Names

DeWitt, Bryce S., 1923-2004

Biography

Abstract

Bryce DeWitt was Jane and Roland Blumberg Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Texas, Austin (1973-2004). Other institutional affiliations included the University of North Carolina and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His research interests included quantum field theory, supermanifolds, gauge theory, and relativistic astrophysics.

Important Dates

January 8, 1923Birth, Dinuba (Calif.).

1943Obtained BS, Harvard University, Cambridge (Mass.).

1947Obtained MA, Harvard University, Cambridge (Mass.).

1949 – 1950Member, Institute for Advanced Study.

1950Obtained PhD in Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge (Mass.).

1951 – 1952Fulbright Fellow, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India.

1952 – 1955Senior Research Physicist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

1954Member, Institute for Advanced Study.

1956 – 1972Visiting Research Professor of Physics (1956-1961); Director, Bahnson Institute of Field Physics (1956-1972); and Professor of Physics (1961-1972), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (N.C.).

1964Member, Institute for Advanced Study.

1966Member, Institute for Advanced Study.

1972Visiting Professor, Stanford University.

1973 – 2004Professor of Physics (1973-1986); Director, Center for Relativity (1973-1987); Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor of Physics (1986-2000); and Jane and Roland Blumberg Emeritus Professor of Physics (2000-2004), University of Texas, Austin, Austin (Tex.).

1975 – 1976Guggenheim Visiting Research Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford University.

1980 – 1981Group Leader, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara.

1990Member, National Academy of Sciences.

September 24, 2004Death, Austin (Tex.).

2005Awarded Einstein Prize, American Physical Society.

Occupation

Theoretical physicist.

Places

Birth

Dinuba (Calif.)

Death

Austin (Tex.)

Undergraduate Education

Cambridge (Mass.)

Graduate Education

Cambridge (Mass.)

Employment

Chapel Hill (N.C.)

Austin (Tex.)

Subjects

Astrophysics.

Nuclear fission.

Quantum gravity.

Supermanifolds (Mathematics).

Theoretical physics.

Relationships

People

Family

DeWitt-Morette, Cécile

Wife.

Colleagues

Adler, Stephen L.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Alder, B. J.

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Arnowitt, Richard

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Batzel, Roger Elwood

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Brown, Harold, 1927-2019

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Brueckner, Keith A.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Case, Kenneth M.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Charney, Jule G.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Cooper, Leon N. (Leon Neil), 1930-

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Deser, S. (Stanley)

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Dyson, Freeman J.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Foster, John S., 1922-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Glauber, Roy J., 1925-

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Hartle, J. B. (James B.)

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Kimble, H. Jeff (Harry Jeffrey), 1949-

Both employed at University of Texas, Austin.

Kinoshita, T. (Toichiro)

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Kraichnan, Robert H., 1928-2008

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Kroll, Norman Myles, 1922-

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Low, Francis E. (Francis Eugene), 1921-2007

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Luttinger, Joaquin M.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

MacDonald, A. H.

Both employed at University of Texas, Austin.

May, Michael M., 1925-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Merzbacher, Eugen

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Morse, Marston, 1892-1977

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Nambu, Yoichiro, 1921-2015

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Nuckolls, John Hopkin

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Polchinski, Joseph Gerard

Both employed at University of Texas, Austin.

Post, Richard F.

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Steinberger, J.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Swinney, H. L., 1939-

Both employed at University of Texas, Austin.

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Watson, Kenneth M.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Weinberg, Steven, 1933-

Both employed at University of Texas, Austin.

Weyl, Hermann, 1885-1955

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911-2008

Both employed at University of Texas, Austin.

Yang, Chen Ning, 1922-

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

York, Herbert F. (Herbert Frank)

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Additional

Everett, Hugh

Ford, Kenneth William, 1926-

Goldberg, Joshua N.

Pirani, F. A. E. (Felix Arnold Edward), 1928-2015

Thorne, Kip S.

Witten, Louis

Institutions

Major Positions

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

Member.

Lawrence Radiation Laboratory

Senior Research Physicist (Livermore campus).

Stanford University. Department of Physics

Visiting Professor.

University of California, Santa Barbara. Institute for Theoretical Physics

Group Leader.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Department of Physics and Astronomy

Visiting Research Professor; Director, Bahnson Institute of Field Physics; and Professor.

University of Texas at Austin. Department of Physics

Professor; Director, Center for Relativity; Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor of Physics; and Jane and Roland Blumberg Emeritus Professor of Physics.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

All Souls College (University of Oxford)

Guggenheim Visiting Research Fellow.

American Physical Society

Received 2005 Einstein Prize.

Harvard University. Department of Physics

Obtained BS, MA, and PhD in Physics (1950).

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Fulbright Fellow.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Bryce S. DeWitt papers, 1950-2005.

Center for American History. University Archives

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX 78713, USA

Gravity Research Foundation essays and abstracts, 1949-2015.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Bryce DeWitt and Cecile DeWitt-Morette, 1995.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

Aage Petersen collection of reprints and manuscripts, 1922-1976.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Cécile DeWitt-Morette papers, 1946, 1983-2007.

Center for American History. University Archives

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX 78713, USA

Gravity Research Foundation essays and abstracts, 1949-2015.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Hans Frauenfelder response to survey on the impact of immigration on U.S. physics, 1999.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

History of physics and educational topics [sound recording], 2012 April 1.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Hugh Everett papers, 1953-1989.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

John A. Wheeler papers, 1880-2008.

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Kip Thorne interviews conducted for his book "Black Holes and Time Warps," 1980-1989.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

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

Oral history interview with Felix Pirani, 2011 June 23.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Joseph Polchinski, 2009 March 18.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Joshua Goldberg, 2011 March 21.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Louis Witten, 2011 March 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Stanley Deser, 2011 March 12.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Science and the ultimate reality [computer file] : celebrating the vision of John Archibald Wheeler and taking it forward into a new center of discovery / 2002 March 15-18.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

Relativité, groupes et topologie II : Les Houches, session XL, 27 juin-4 août 1983 = Relativity, groups, and topology II / édité par Bryce S. DeWitt et Raymond Stora ; conférenciers, Carlo Becchi et al.

Relativité, groupes et topologie. Relativity, groups and topology. Lectures delivered at Les Houches during the 1963 session of the Summer School of Theoretical Physics, University of Grenoble. Edited by C. DeWitt [and] B. DeWitt.

The global approach to quantum field theory / Bryce DeWitt.

The operator formalism in quantum pertubation theory.

The pursuit of quantum gravity : memoirs of Bryce DeWitt from 1946 to 2004 / Cécile DeWitt-Morette.

Subject

"Bryce Seligman DeWitt: 1923-2004", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences

Bryce Seligman DeWitt Physics Today obituary.

Quantum theory of gravity : essays in honor of the 60th birthday of Bryce S. DeWitt / edited by Steven M. Christensen.

The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. A fundamental exposition by Hugh Everett, III, with papers by J. A. Wheeler [and others] Edited by Bryce S. DeWitt and Neill Graham.