US Nobel-prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg dies aged 88 – Physics World - physicsworld.com

The US physicist Steven Weinberg, who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physics for his theoretical contributions to the Standard Model of particle physics, died on 23 July aged 88.

In 1954 Weinberg received a degree in physics from Cornell University and after a year at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen (now the Niels Bohr Institute), he returned to the US to compete his PhD at Cornell University, graduating in 1957.

Working independently to Weinberg, Glashow (who was in the same year group as Weinberg at the Bronx high School), and Salam made their own contributions to the model, which later became known as the Salam-Weinberg theory.

In 1979 Glashow, Salam and Weinberg were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for “for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current.” The W and Z particles were then detected for the first time in 1983 at CERN.

In 1973 Weinberg went back to Harvard where he also held a position at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Weinberg published numerous books including the popular-science account The First Three Minutes (1977), which told the story of the origin of the universe as well as Dreams of a Final Theory (1993), in which he wrote about his belief that physics was on the verge of discovering a theory that would unite physics.

Last year, he received a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental physics – and with it $3m – for his contributions to physics.

John Preskill from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), who was supervised by Weinberg as a PhD student at Harvard, says Weinberg’s death is an “immeasurable loss”.

That view is backed by fellow Caltech physicist Sean Carroll who says Weinberg is one of the “best physicists we had; one of the best thinkers of any variety” who “exhibited extraordinary verve and clarity of thought through the whole stretch of a long and productive life.” Brian Greene, from Columbia Univeristy, meanwhile, says that Weinberg had an “astounding ability to see into the deep workings of nature” that “profoundly shaped” our understanding of the universe