J. Steinberger

Biography

Abstract

Jack Steinberger was a Physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) (1968-1986). Other institutional affiliations include Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and the Institute for Advanced Studies. In 1988, Steinberger shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Leon Lederman and Melvin Schwartz for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino.

Important Dates

May 25, 1921Birth, Bad Kissingen (Germany).

1942Obtained BS in Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).

1942 – 1944Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Radiation Laboratory.

1945Soldier, United States Army.

1948Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).

1948 – 1949Member, Institute for Advanced Study.

1949 – 1950Research Assistant, University of California, Berkeley.

1950 – 1971Assistant Professor of Physics (1950-1952); Associate Professor of Physics (1952-1955); and Professor of Physics (1955-1971), Columbia University, New York (N.Y.).

1968 – 1986Physicist (1968-1986) and Director, Experimental Physics (1969-1971), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland).

1986 – presentVisiting Professor, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italy).

1988Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics with Leon M. Lederman and Melvin Schwartz "for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino".

1988Awarded National Medal of Science.

December 12, 2020Death, Geneva (Switzerland).

Occupation

Particle physicist.

Places

Birth

Bad Kissingen (Germany)

Undergraduate Education

Chicago (Ill.)

Graduate Education

Chicago (Ill.)

Employment

New York (N.Y.)

Geneva (Switzerland)

Pisa (Italy)

Death

Geneva (Switzerland)

Subjects

Cosmic rays.

Leptons (Nuclear physics).

Muons.

Neutrinos.

Particles (Nuclear physics).

Pions.

Relationships

People

Family

Alff, Cynthia

Second wife.

Beauregard, Joan

First wife.

Steinberger, John

Son.

Steinberger, Joseph Ludwig

Son.

Steinberger, Julia

Daughter.

Steinberger, Richard Ned

Son.

Advisors & Collaborators

Chinowsky, William

Advised by Steinberger at Columbia University, "Reactions of stopped π- Mesons in Hydrogen and Deuterium."

Fermi, Enrico, 1901-1954

PhD advisor at University of Chicago, "On the range of the electrons in meson decay."

Hughes, Emlyn

Advised by Steinberger at Columbia University, "A measurement of the Weinberg angle in neutrino iron scattering."

Lederman, Leon M.

Shared 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics with Melvin Schwartz "for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino" and both employed at Columbia University.

Schwartz, Melvin, 1932-2006

Advised by Steinberger at Columbia University; shared 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics with Leon Lederman "for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino;" and both employed at Columbia University.

Colleagues

Alvarez, Luis W., 1911-1988

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Birge, Raymond T. (Raymond Thayer), 1887-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Boehm, Felix

Both employed at Columbia University.

Booth, Eugene

Both employed at Columbia University.

Brillouin, Léon, 1889-1969

Both employed at Columbia University.

Brode, Robert B. (Robert Bigham), 1900-1986

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Case, Kenneth M.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Chamberlain, O. (Owen)

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Charney, Jule G.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Chew, Geoffrey F.

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Commins, Eugene D.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Cummins, Herman Z., 1933-

Both employed at Columbia University.

Davis, Bergen, 1869-1958

Both employed at Columbia University.

Devons, Samuel

Both employed at Columbia University.

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

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Dunning, John R. (John Ray), 1907-1975

Both employed at Columbia University.

Dyson, Freeman J.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Feinberg, Gerald, 1933-

Both employed at Columbia University.

Foley, Henry Michael, 1917-1982

Both employed at Columbia University.

Glauber, Roy J., 1925-

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Goldhaber, Gerson

Both employed at Columbia University.

Hahn, E. L. (Erwin Louis), 1921-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Happer, William, 1939-

Both employed at Columbia University.

Helmholz, August Carl, 1915-2003

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Henley, Ernest M.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Hughes, Vernon W.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Javan, Ali, 1926-

Both employed at Columbia University.

Kinoshita, T. (Toichiro)

Both employed at Columbia University.

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 and Columbia University.

Kusch, Polykarp, 1911-1993

Both employed at Columbia University.

Lamb, Willis E. (Willis Eugene), 1913-2008

Both employed at Columbia University.

Lawrence, Ernest Orlando, 1901-1958

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Lee, T. D., 1926-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University.

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

Both employed at Columbia University.

Luttinger, Joaquin M.

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study and Columbia University.

Mandelstam, Stanley

Both employed at Columbia University.

McMillan, Edwin M. (Edwin Mattison), 1907-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Morse, Marston, 1892-1977

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Moyer, Burton J., 1912-1973

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Novick, Robert

Both employed at Columbia University.

Nygren, David R.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Panofsky, Wolfgang K. H. (Wolfgang Kurt Hermann), 1919-2007

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Pegram, George Braxton, 1876-1958

Both employed at Columbia University.

Peoples, John, Jr.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Rabi, I. I. (Isidor Isaac), 1898-1988

Both employed at Columbia University.

Rainwater, L. James (Leo James), 1917-1986

Both employed at Columbia University.

Reynolds, John Hamilton, 1923-2000

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Ruderman, Malvin A.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Sachs, Allan M. (Allan Maxwell), 1921-1989

Both employed at Columbia University.

Samios, Nicholas P.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Schawlow, Arthur L., 1921-1999

Both employed at Columbia University.

Segal, Irving Ezra

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Segrè, Emilio

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Serber, R. (Robert)

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University.

Thomas, Llewellyn Hilleth, 1903-1992

Both employed at Columbia University.

Ting, S. C. C. (Samuel Chao-chung), 1936-

Both employed at Columbia University.

Townes, Charles H.

Both employed at Columbia University.

Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Weinberg, Steven, 1933-

Both employed at Columbia University.

Weyl, Hermann, 1885-1955

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Wick, G. C. (Gian Carlo)

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University.

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

Both employed at Columbia University.

Yang, Chen Ning, 1922-

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Additional

Bennett, William R. (William Ralph), 1904-

Rotblat, Joseph, 1908-2005

Wilson, Robert R., 1914-2000

Institutions

Major Positions

Columbia University. Department of Physics

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

European Organization for Nuclear Research

Physicist and Director, Experimental Physics.

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

Member.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Radiation Laboratory

Researcher.

Scuola normale superiore (Italy)

Visiting Professor.

United States. Army

Soldier.

University of California, Berkeley. Department of Physics

Research Assistant.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

University of Chicago. Department of Chemistry

Obtained BS (1942).

University of Chicago. Department of Physics

Obtained PhD (1948).

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Nobel Voices Videohistory Project collection, 2000-2001.

Archives Center

Smithsonian Institution. National Museum of American History

MRC 601, 12th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA

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

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

Oral history interview with Leon Lederman, 1990 May 7.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Lincoln Wolfenstein, 1997 April 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

William R. Bennett papers, 1922-circa 1988 (bulk 1958-1996).

Manuscript Division

Library of Congress

James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA

Published Resources

Author

"A Particular View of Particle Physics in the Fifties," in Pions to Quarks: Particle Physics in the 1950s, ed. Laurie M. Brown, Max Dresden, and Lillian Hoddeson (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press: 1989), 307-330

14th International Conference on High-Energy Physics : proceedings / edited by J. Prentiki, J. Steinberger.

Learning about particles : 50 privileged years / Jack Steinberger.

Nobel Prize Autobiography.

Subject

Particles and detectors : festschrift for Jack Steinberger / editors, K. Kleinknecht and T.D. Lee.