Climbing the Mountain: The Scientific Biography of Julian Schwinger [Hardcover]

Jagdish Mehra (Author), Kimball Milton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198506589 | ISBN-13: 978-0198506584 | Publication Date: August 24, 2000

This is the first biography ever written on the distinguished physicist Julian Schwinger. Schwinger was one of the most important and influential scientists of the twentieth century. The list of his contributions is staggering, from his early work leading to the Schwinger action principle, Euclidean quantum field theory, and the genesis of the standard model, to later valuable work on magnetic charge and the Casimir effect. He also shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Richard Feynman. However, even among physicists, understanding and recognition of his work remains limited. This book by Mehra and Milton, both of whom were personally acquainted with Schwinger, presents a unique portrait that sheds light on both his personality and his work through discussion of his lasting influence on science. Anyone who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of one of the great physicists of this century needs to read this book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Julian Schwinger deserves to be remembered as a great scientist for his many brilliant scientific achievements. We are very lucky to have this authentic portrait of Schwinger by Jagdish Mehra (with Kimball A. Milton), to balance Mehra's biography of Feynman [The Beat of a Different Drum, Oxford, 1994]; in it we see Schwinger as he was, a many-sided genius a human being with very great gifts."--Freeman J. Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey

"Climbing the Mountain is far more than Julian Schwinger's scientific biography. It reconstructs his times and the evolution of his thoughts, tells of his interactions with students and colleagues, and shows the enormous impact he has had on the substance, practice, and practitioners of modern physics. Every reader will concur with the sentiment of his widow: 'The world that knew him will never be the same.'"--Sheldon L. Glashow, Harvard University

"This magnificent book brilliantly recounts Schwinger's ascent up the mountain of quantum electrodynamics, and his previous and subsequent scientific career which, to a remarkable degree, defined theoretical physics for decades. Not only does this beautiful book treat Schwinger's scientific biography, but all the various aspects of his gifted life and glorious career; it is a definitive account of Julian Schwinger's life and work."--Willis E. Lamb, Jr., University of Arizona

About the Author

Jagdish Mehra is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Houston, Texas, and recently served as the UNESCO-Sir Julian Huxley Distinguished Professor of Physics and the History of Science with UNESCO in Paris and Trieste. He is the author of The Beat of a Different Drum: A Scientific Biography of Richard Feynman. Kimball Milton is Professor of Physics at the University of Oklahoma.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 696 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198506589
• ISBN-13: 978-0198506584
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,485,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)