Weinberg won the Nobel prize for his work on particle interaction in 1979. Author: KEN MILLER Associated Press Published: 6:08 PM CDT July 24, 2021 Updated: 6:08 PM CDT July 24, 2021
Physicist Steven Weinberg, who won the Nobel prize in 1979 with two other scientists for their separate contributions unlocking mysteries of tiny particles and their electromagnetic interaction, has died at 88, the University of Texas at Austin said Saturday.
A professor at the university since the 1980s, Weinberg died Friday in Austin, Texas, according to his wife Louise, said UT spokesperson Christine Sinatra. The physicist had been hospitalized for several weeks, but a cause of death was not released, according to Sinatra.
Ken Miller
FILE - In this Oct. 15, 1979, file photo, professor Steven Weinberg, of Cambridge, Mass., poses for a picture. Weinberg, the 1979 winner of the Nobel prize in physics with two other scientists for their work unlocking mysteries of tiny particles, has died at 88. Spokesperson Christine Sinatra at the University of Texas at Austin says Weinberg died Friday, July 23, 2021, at a hospital in Austin. (AP Photo/File) July 24, 2021 - 5:46 PM
Physicist Steven Weinberg, who won the Nobel prize in 1979 with two other scientists for their separate contributions unlocking mysteries of tiny particles and their electromagnetic interaction, has died at 88, the University of Texas at Austin said Saturday.
I heard this morning the news that Steven Weinberg passed away yesterday at the age of 88. He was arguably the dominant figure in theoretical particle physics during its period of great success from the late sixties to the early eighties. In particular, his 1967 work on unification of the weak and electromagnetic interactions was a huge breakthrough, and remains to this day at the center of the Standard Model, our best understanding of fundamental physics.
During the years 1975-79 when I was a student at Harvard, I believe the hallway where Weinberg, Glashow and Coleman had offices close together was the greatest concentration of the world’s major figures driving the field of particle theory, with Weinberg seen as the most prominent of the three. From what I recall, in a meeting one of the graduate students (Eddie Farhi?) referred to “Shelly, Sidney and Weinberg”, indicating the way Weinberg was a special case even in that group. I had the great fortune to attend
Professor Weinberg unlocked the mysteries of the universe for millions of people, enriching humanity’s concept of nature and our relationship to the world,” Hartzell added.
In 1979, Weinberg shared the Nobel prize in physics with scientists Abdus Salam and Sheldon Lee Glashow. Their work improved the understanding of how everything in the universe relates, according to a UT statement.
The work helped physicists unify two of the four forces of nature, subatomic forces known as nuclear forces, said Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology.
“It’s all about understanding the laws of nature at a deep level. We’re curious creatures and we want to know how the universe around us works,” Carroll said.