from Hacker News

Steven Weinberg has died

by zrkrlc on 7/24/21, 7:33 AM with 22 comments

  • by effie on 7/24/21, 10:30 AM

    Personal observation.

    Steven Weinberg made his career as an accomplished disciple of orthodox quantum theoretical physics, making it to the top of the physics/social food chain via hard work developing quantum field theory and getting acknowledged as one of the fathers of Standard Model. But all this without really "rocking the boat" of quantum theory. For a long time he believed quantum theory is fine and was not interested in the deeper questions about it.

    He eventually came around and realized and acknowledged that quantum theory has serious systemic problems of arbitrariness/internal consistency related to dichotomy unitary evolution/measurement, to dismay of some self-assured fanboys of QT orthodoxy. This gets him to the Feynman/Schwinger level, as in "did lots of great work, inspired lots of people, and realized the standard narratives have serious problems and wasn't afraid to say it and go his own way".

    His last textbook Lectures on Quantum Mechanics is one of the few extraordinarily notable textbooks on quantum theory that came out in last decades. If you want to get deeper into QT after you get through the standard superficial and hand-wavy college course, this is a very good and concise book.

  • by ssivark on 7/24/21, 2:41 PM

    I’ll share what to me was one of the most impressive aspects of Weinberg’s work. I’ve seen him described as a battle tank — not the fastest to get moving, but basically unstoppable once he does.

    As I was digging into the literature during my research, I noticed an interesting pattern to his work over the decades. There would erupt a “hot” area in applying quantum field theory, and have lots of back and forth and papers making claims, correcting each other, and being corrected. And then a few months/years later would come a Weinberg paper, handling the matter so systematically & thoroughly that there likely won’t be any more low-hanging fruit in the area!

    The whole thing was really impressive given that he worked largely by himself (most of his papers are single-author), and had among the highest average citation count I’ve seen for a theoretical physicist. There is a reason his quantum field theory textbook series is highly respected — he wrought the field piece by piece with his own hands.

    Finally, he was an extremely articulate writer, and I have a huge soft spot for his “Dreams of a final theory” — especially his comments on the relationship between theory & experiment, and the scientific method more generally. I really wish more people read that and got influenced by its depth and nuance.

  • by danellis on 7/24/21, 11:53 AM

    Whenever I see his name, I always think of this. I forget who it's credited to.

    Steve Weinberg returning from Texas

    Brings dimensions galore to perplex us

    But the extra ones all

    Are rolled up in a ball

    So tiny they barely affect us

  • by mark_l_watson on 7/24/21, 11:53 AM

    Sad news. I mostly remember him from my early childhood. He and my Dad were in the Physics Department at Berkeley. He and his beautiful and charming wife were often at my parents’ parties. My condolences to his family.

  • by Ostrogodsky on 7/24/21, 10:26 AM

    Sad news. Weinberg was the kind of scientist I like the most: very important results in his career, deep love for what he did and an absolutely no non-sense attitude. It was pretty inspirational to see him always so lucid well into his 80s. Rest in peace professor.

  • by abdullahkhalids on 7/24/21, 8:05 PM

    > The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things which lifts human life a little above the level of farce and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.

    Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes

  • by thoughty on 7/24/21, 9:12 AM

    He was the one who gave the theory the name "Standard Model" - which in my opinion is such an understatement to a theory that unifies EM & Weak forces. He was a great story teller too. will be missed.

  • by evanb on 7/24/21, 8:04 PM

  • by dctoedt on 7/24/21, 8:34 PM

    Never knew him, but I was in the very first course (IIRC) that his wife Louise taught at UT Law; she was extremely sharp (and kind, to boot).

  • by oefrha on 7/24/21, 10:02 AM

    Dreams of a Final Theory was one of the most influential texts that motivated me into theoretical high energy physics. Sad.

  • by prvc on 7/24/21, 9:58 AM

    I read "Dreams of a Final Theory" as a child, and have been contemplating some of the philosophical questions posed therein ever since. RIP.

  • by RhysU on 7/25/21, 4:03 AM

    Weinberg in front of me at the ballet for a modern work.

    Someone says "Steven, what do you think?"

    He replied "Swan Lake it's not".

  • by 8eye on 7/24/21, 9:21 AM

    it’s really sad that we average out at around 100 years currently at least. there is so much more we can understand the world around us, so much more we can discover in the world. anyways, rip weinberg, your legacy lives on.

  • by guidoism on 7/24/21, 2:42 PM

    The First Three Minutes is one of my favorite books. I keep go back to it.

  • by selimthegrim on 7/24/21, 1:32 PM

    Miguel Virasoro passed away the other day too. A sad week for physics.