1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Julian Schwinger

Julian Schwinger Quotes

Julian Seymour Schwinger was a Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics , in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

Schwinger is recognized as one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, responsible for much of modern quantum field theory, including a variational approach, and the equations of motion for quantum fields. He developed the first electroweak model, and the first example of confinement in 1+1 dimensions. He is responsible for the theory of multiple neutrinos, Schwinger terms, and the theory of the spin-3/2 field. Wikipedia  

✵ 12. February 1918 – 16. July 1994
Julian Schwinger photo
Julian Schwinger: 3   quotes 0   likes

Famous Julian Schwinger Quotes

“Is the purpose of theoretical physics to be no more than a cataloging of all the things that can happen when particles interact with each other and separate? Or is it to be an understanding at a deeper level in which there are things that are not directly observable (as the underlying quantized fields are) but in terms of which we shall have a more fundamental understanding?”

Julian Schwinger

Quantum Mechanics - Symbolism of Atomic Measurements (2001) p. 24 f.

“If my history lesson has done nothing else, it should have reminded you that, during any given period in the evolving history of physics, the prevailing, main line, climate of opinion was likely as not to be wrong, as seen in the light of later developments. And yet, in those earlier times, with relatively few individuals involved, change did occur, but slowly… What is fundamentally different in the present day situation in high energy physics is that large numbers of workers are involved, with corresponding pressures to conformity and resistance to any deflection in direction of the main stream, and that the time scale of one scientific generation is much too long for the rapid pace of experimental discovery. I also have a secret fear that new generations may not necessarily have the opportunity to become familiar with dissident ideas.”

Julian Schwinger

as quoted by Sameer Shah in "If you can't join 'em, beat 'em": Julian Schwinger's Conflicts in Physics. Directions in Cultural History, The UCLA Historical Journal, Volume 21, 2005-2006, p. 50

“Perhaps the most important contribution to science that the Royal Society has made in its three centuries of existence is its early role in publishing Newton's masterful account of his discoveries.”

Julian Schwinger

Einstein's Legacy: The Unity of Space and Time (2002) p. 2

Similar authors

Max Planck photo
Max Planck 30
German theoretical physicist
Paul Dirac photo
Paul Dirac 23
theoretical physicist
Steven Weinberg photo
Steven Weinberg 46
American theoretical physicist
Richard Feynman photo
Richard Feynman 181
American theoretical physicist
Roy J. Glauber photo
Roy J. Glauber 1
American theoretical physicist
Stephen Hawking photo
Stephen Hawking 122
British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
Werner Heisenberg photo
Werner Heisenberg 42
German theoretical physicist
Vitaly Ginzburg photo
Vitaly Ginzburg 2
Russian Physicist
Murray Gell-Mann photo
Murray Gell-Mann 10
American physicist
Abdus Salam photo
Abdus Salam 3
theoretical physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics recipient