Julian Schwinger

Facts

Julian Schwinger

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Julian Schwinger
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1965

Born: 12 February 1918, New York, NY, USA

Died: 16 July 1994, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Prize motivation: “for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles”

Prize share: 1/3

Work

Following the establishment of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, an initial relativistic theory was formulated for the interaction between charged particles and electromagnetic fields. However, partly because the electron’s magnetic moment proved to be somewhat larger than expected, the theory had to be reformulated. Julian Schwinger solved this problem in 1948 through “renormalization” and thereby contributed to a new quantum electrodynamics.

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