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John Henry Schwarz

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John Henry Schwarz
Born (1941-11-22) November 22, 1941 (age 82)
North Adams, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma materHarvard University (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Known forLorentz-covariant description of superstrings[1]
Classification of the consistent ten-dimensional superstring theories[2]
Green–Schwarz mechanism
RNS formalism
GS formalism
Neveu–Schwarz algebra
Neveu–Schwarz B-field
Scherk–Schwarz mechanism
Discovering the D = 10 critical dimension of superstring theory[3]
Type II string theory[4]
Type IIB supergravity
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical physics
InstitutionsPrinceton University
California Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisorGeoffrey Chew
Doctoral studentsMina Aganagic
Anthony Ichiro Sanda
Cosmas Zachos
Augusto Sagnotti
Michael R. Douglas
Gerald B. Cleaver

John Henry Schwarz (/ʃwɔːrts/ SHWORTS; born November 22, 1941) is an American theoretical physicist.[5] Along with Yoichiro Nambu, Holger Bech Nielsen, Joël Scherk, Gabriele Veneziano, Michael Green, and Leonard Susskind, he is regarded as one of the founders of string theory.

Early life and education

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He studied mathematics at Harvard College (A.B., 1962) and theoretical physics at the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D., 1966), where his graduate advisor was Geoffrey Chew. For several years he was one of the very few physicists who pursued string theory as a viable theory of quantum gravity.

His work with Michael Green on anomaly cancellation in Type I string theories led to the so-called "first superstring revolution" of 1984, which greatly contributed to moving string theory into the mainstream of research in theoretical physics.[6]

Schwarz was an assistant professor at Princeton University from 1966 to 1972. He then moved to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he is currently the Harold Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics.[7]

Awards

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He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society (1986).[8] He was a fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1987.

He received the Dirac Medal of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in 1989, and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics of the American Physical Society in 2002. On December 12, 2013, he shared the Fundamental Physics Prize with Michael Green "for opening new perspectives on quantum gravity and the unification of forces."

Selected publications

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  • Green, M., John H. Schwarz, and E. Witten. Superstring Theory. Vol. 1, Introduction. Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 9780521357524.
  • Superstring Theory. Vol. 2, Loop Amplitutes, Anomalies and Phenomenology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 9780521357531.
  • Becker, Katrin, Melanie Becker, and John H. Schwarz. String theory and M-theory: A modern introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-521-86069-7.

References

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  1. ^ Green, M. B.; Schwarz, J. H. (1984). "Covariant description of superstrings". Physics Letters B. 136 (5–6): 367. Bibcode:1984PhLB..136..367G. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(84)92021-5.
  2. ^ Green, M. B., Schwarz, J. H. (1982). "Supersymmetrical string theories." Physics Letters B, 109, 444–448.
  3. ^ Schwarz, J. H. (1972). "Physical states and pomeron poles in the dual pion model." Nuclear Physics, B46(1), 61–74.
  4. ^ Green, M.B.; Schwarz, J.H. (1982). "Supersymmetrical string theories". Physics Letters B. 109 (6): 444–448. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(82)91110-8.
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-04-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "superstringtheory.com". Archived from the original on 2016-09-09. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  7. ^ Faculty website
  8. ^ "APS Fellow Archive". ARS. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
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