Weinberg, Steven

Weinberg, Steven

▪ American physicist
born May 3, 1933, New York, N.Y., U.S.

      American nuclear physicist who in 1979 shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Sheldon Lee Glashow (Glashow, Sheldon Lee) and Abdus Salam (Salam, Abdus) (qq.v.) for work in formulating the electroweak theory, which explains the unity of electromagnetism with the weak nuclear force.

      Weinberg and Glashow were members of the same classes at the Bronx High School of Science, New York City (1950), and Cornell University (1954). Weinberg went from Cornell to the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Atomic Physics in Copenhagen for a year and then obtained his doctorate at Princeton University in 1957.

      Weinberg proposed his version of the electroweak theory in 1967. Electromagnetism and the weak force were both known to operate by the interchange of subatomic particles. Electromagnetism can operate at potentially infinite distances by means of massless particles called photons, while the weak force operates only at subatomic distances by means of massive particles called bosons. Weinberg was able to show that despite their apparent dissimilarities, photons and bosons are actually members of the same family of particles. His work, along with that of Glashow and Salam, made it possible to predict the outcome of new experiments in which elementary particles are made to impinge on one another. An important series of experiments in 1982–83 found strong evidence for the W and Z particles predicted by these scientists' electroweak theory.

      Weinberg conducted research at Columbia University and at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory before joining the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley in 1960. During part of his last two years there, 1968–69, he was visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he joined its faculty in 1969, moving to Harvard University in 1973 and to the University of Texas at Austin in 1983.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Weinberg, Steven — Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg à l Université Harvard Steven Weinberg, Ph.D., Hon. D. Sc. est un physicien américain né le 3 mai 1933 à New York. Il est le principal instigateur, avec Abdus Salam et Sheldon Lee Glashow de la théorie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • WEINBERG, STEVEN — (1933– ), U.S. physicist and Nobel Laureate in physics. Born in New York, Weinberg graduated A.B. from Cornell University (1954) and studied at Copenhagen Institute for Theoretical Physics before receiving his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Weinberg , Steven — (1933–) American physicist Born in New York, Weinberg was educated (as was Sheldon Glashow) at the Bronx High School of Science, at Cornell, and at Princeton, where he gained his PhD in 1957. Following appointments at Columbia (1957–59), Berkeley …   Scientists

  • Weinberg, Steven — ► (n. 1933) Físico estadounidense. Fue premio Nobel de Física en 1979, compartido con S. Glashow y A. Salam, por sus trabajos sobre partículas elementales …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Weinberg — Steven …   Scientists

  • Weinberg — Weinberg, Steven …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Steven Weinberg — en la Universidad de Harvard Steven Weinberg (n. 3 de mayo de 1933 (78 años) es un físico estadounidense. Ganó en 1979 el Premio Nobel de Física junto con Abdus Salam y Sheldon Lee Glashow por combinar el electromagnetismo y la fuerza nuclea …   Wikipedia Español

  • Weinberg — (meaning vineyard in German) may refer to: * Weinberg an der Raab in Styria * Weinberg (Gemeinde Völkermarkt) in Carinthia * Weinberg (Gemeinde St. Paul) in Lavanttal in Carinthia * Weinberg (Gemeinde Maria Laach) in Jauerling in Lower Austria *… …   Wikipedia

  • Weinberg — (Steven) (né en 1933) physicien américain, auteur, avec Salam, de la théorie électrofaible. (V. interaction.) P. Nobel 1979 …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Steven Weinberg — Infobox Scientist box width = 300px name = Steven Weinberg imagesize = 200px caption = Steven Weinberg birth date = birth date and age|1933|5|3 birth place = New York City, New York, USA residence = United States nationality = United States… …   Wikipedia

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