Sidney Coleman

1
Sidney Coleman
For the football player, see Sidney Coleman (American football).
Sidney Coleman
Born March 7, 1937
Chicago, Illinois
Died November 18, 2007 (aged70)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Residence United States
Nationality American
Fields Physicist
Institutions Harvard University
Alma mater Illinois Institute of Technology
Caltech
Doctoral advisor Murray Gell-Mann
Doctoral students Ian Affleck
Jacques Distler
David Griffiths
Jeffrey Mandula
Stephen Parke
Leonard Parker
David Politzer
Lee Smolin
Paul Steinhardt
Erick Weinberg
Anthony Zee
Knownfor Quantum field theory
Notable awards NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing (1989)
Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (2000)
Sidney Richard Coleman (7 March 1937 18 November 2007) was an American theoretical physicist who studied
under Murray Gell-Mann. He is notable for his research in high-energy theoretical physics.
Sidney Coleman
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Life and work
Sidney Coleman grew up on the Far North Side of Chicago. In 1957, he received his undergraduate degree from the
Illinois Institute of Technology physics department.
He received his PhD from Caltech in 1962, and moved to Harvard University that year, where he spent his entire
career, meeting his wife Diana there in the late 1970s. They were married in 1982.
"He was a giant in a peculiar sense, because he's not known to the general populace," Nobel laureate Sheldon
Glashow told the Boston Globe. "He's not a Stephen Hawking; he has virtually no visibility outside. But within the
community of theoretical physicists, he's kind of a major god. He is the physicist's physicist."
[1]
In 1966, Antonino Zichichi recruited Coleman as a lecturer at the then-new summer school at International School
for Subnuclear Physics in Erice, Sicily. A legendary figure at the school throughout the 1970s and early 1980s,
Coleman was awarded the title "Best Lecturer" on the occasion of the school's fifteenth anniversary (1979). His
explanation of spontaneous symmetry breaking in terms of a little man living inside a ferromagnet has often been
cited by later popularizers.
[2][3]
The classic particle physics text Aspects of Symmetry (1985) is a collection of
Coleman's lectures at Erice. A quote from his introduction to the book is worth sharing here:
I first came to Erice in 1966, to lecture at the fourth of the annual schools on subnuclear physics
organized by Nino Zichichi. I was charmed by the beauty of Erice, fascinated by the thick layers of
Sicilian culture and history, and terrified by the iron rule with which Nino kept the students and faculty
in line. In a word, I was won over, and I returned to Erice every year or two thereafter, to talk of what
was past, or passing, or to come, at least insofar as it touched on subnuclear theoryThese lectures span
fourteen years, from 1966 to 1979. This was a great time to be a high-energy theorist, the period of the
famous triumph of quantum field theory. And what a triumph it was, in the old sense of the word: a
glorious victory parade, full of wonderful things brought back from far places to make the spectator gasp
with awe and laugh with joy. I hope some of that awe and joy has been captured here.
Coleman's lectures at Harvard were legendary. Students in one quantum field theory course created T-shirts bearing
his image and a collection of his more noted quotations, among them: "Not only God knows, I know, and by the end
of the semester, you will know." Despite this acclaim, he did not generally enjoy teaching or mentoring graduate
students:
I hate [teaching]. You do it as part of the job. Well, that's of course false ... or maybe more true than
false when I say I hate it. ... But I certainly would be just as happy if I had no graduate students. ...
Occasionally there is a graduate student who is a joy to collaborate with. Both David Politzer and Erick
Weinberg were of this kind, but they were essentially almost mature physicists. They were very bright
by the time they came to me. In general, working with a graduate student is like teaching a course. It's
tedious, unpleasant work. A pain in the neck. You do it because you're paid to do it. If I weren't paid to
do it I certainly would never do it.
[4]
In 1989, Coleman was awarded the NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing from the National Academy of Sciences.
That award praised his "lucid, insightful, and influential reviews on partially conserved currents, gauge theories,
instantons, and magnetic monopoles--subjects fundamental to theoretical physics." In 2005, Harvard University's
physics department held the "SidneyFest", a conference on quantum field theory and quantum chromodynamics,
organized in his honor.
Aside from his academic work, Coleman was a prominent science fiction enthusiast. He was one of the founders of
Advent: Publishers
[5]
and occasionally reviewed genre books for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
[6]
Sidney Coleman
3
Contributions to physics
Some of his best known works are
ColemanMandula theorem
Tadpoles
Coleman theorem
Equivalence of the Thirring model and the quantum sine-Gordon equation
Semiclassical analysis of the fate of a false vacuum
ColemanWeinberg potential
Q-balls in the thin-wall limit
Lectures at Erice, some of which are preserved in his book Aspects of Symmetry (review and teaching)
Notes
[1] Sidney Coleman; Harvard icon taught physics classes with wit (http:/ / www. boston. com/ bostonglobe/ obituaries/ articles/ 2008/ 01/ 20/
sidney_coleman_harvard_icon_taught_physics_classes_with_wit/ )
[2] L. Ryder, "Symmetry breaking", J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 38, 9729 (2005) (http:/ / www. iop. org/ EJ/ abstract/ 0305-4470/ 38/ 44/ B01)
[3] Brading, Katherine and Castellani, Elena, "Symmetry and Symmetry Breaking", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008
Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), (http:/ / plato.stanford.edu/ archives/ fall2008/ entries/ symmetry-breaking/ )
[4] Sopka, Katherine. "Oral History Transcript - Interview with Dr. Sidney Coleman" (http:/ / www. aip. org/ history/ ohilist/ 31234. html)
American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives (January 19, 1977)
[5] "Sidney Coleman Dies at 70" (http:/ / news.harvard.edu/ gazette/ story/ 2007/ 11/ sidney-coleman-dies-at-70/ )
[6] ISFDB bibliography (http:/ / www.isfdb.org/ cgi-bin/ ea. cgi?31516)
External links
Sidneyfest 2005 (http:/ / www. physics. harvard. edu/ QFT/ ) - physicists' celebration of Sidney Coleman's life
Chicago Tribune obituary (http:/ / www. chicagotribune. com/ news/ local/
chi-hed_coleman_20nov20,0,7943823. story), November 20, 2007.
Harvard Gazette obituary (http:/ / news. harvard. edu/ gazette/ story/ 2007/ 11/ sidney-coleman-dies-at-70/ ),
November 29, 2007.
Boston Globe obituary (http:/ / www. boston. com/ bostonglobe/ obituaries/ articles/ 2008/ 01/ 20/
sidney_coleman_harvard_icon_taught_physics_classes_with_wit/ ), January 20, 2008.
Physics Today obituary (http:/ / scitation. aip. org/ content/ aip/ magazine/ physicstoday/ article/ 61/ 5/ 10. 1063/
1. 2930745), May 2008, written by Sheldon Glashow.
"Quantum Mechanics In Your Face" (http:/ / media. physics. harvard. edu/ video/ index.
php?id=SidneyColeman_QMIYF. flv), A lecture by Prof. Coleman at the New England sectional meeting of the
American Physical Society April 9, 1994.
Physics 253: Quantum Field Theory (http:/ / www. physics. harvard. edu/ about/ Phys253. html). Video of
lectures by Sidney Coleman at Harvard in 1975-1976.
Sidney Coleman (http:/ / www. genealogy. ams. org/ id. php?id=93780) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir (http:/ / www. nasonline. org/ publications/
biographical-memoirs/ memoir-pdfs/ Coleman_Sidney. pdf)
Article Sources and Contributors
4
Article Sources and Contributors
Sidney Coleman Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=613426941 Contributors: Acctorp, Akriasas, Betsythedevine, Beyond My Ken, Biofh, Boleyn, Brad7777, Calwiki, Can't
sleep, clown will eat me, Carabinieri, ChKa, Chocomiui, Cuzkatzimhut, DRosenbach, Dark Formal, Duk, Etacar11, Freeboson, GcSwRhIc, Ggpauly, Giftlite, Gilisa, GregorB, Hcmotox34,
Headbomb, Hullaballoo Wolfowitz, Jackliddle, Jason Quinn, JdeP, John, Johnpacklambert, Jonarnold1985, KirstenRichards, Kismalac, Klemen Kocjancic, Lumidek, MZMcBride, Mandarax,
Martarius, Masterpiece2000, Matt Gies, Melesse, Michael Hardy, MinosAxenides, Mlaffs, Mr. Stradivarius, Nasmem, Ntsimp, Odie5533, Omnipaedista, Oxo, Peter Pan, PhnomPencil,
Physicistjedi, Physicsch, Pleasantville, Pra1998, Quatloo, R'n'B, RE, RogDel, Salsb, Snowolf, Stilgar135, Subluminal, Suslindisambiguator, Template namespace initialisation script,
Timrollpickering, Tonderai, TonyMath, Vanished user ikijeirw34iuaeolaseriffic, Vcharmandaris, Waacstats, XJaM, Ymblanter, 36 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
File:Sidney Coleman at Harvard crop.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sidney_Coleman_at_Harvard_crop.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License
Contributors: User:Beyond My Ken
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