Holger Bech Nielsen (born 25 August 1941) is a Danish

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the Niels Bohr Institute, at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, where he started studying physics in 1961.

Work

Nielsen has made original contributions to theoretical

particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

, specifically in the field of string theory. Independently of Yoichiro Nambu and Leonard Susskind, he was the first to propose that the Veneziano model was actually a theory of strings, leading him to be considered among the fathers of string theory. He was awarded the Humboldt Prize in 2001 for his research. Several physics concepts are named after him, e.g. Nielsen–Olesen vortex and the Nielsen-Ninomiya no-go theorem for representing chiral fermions on the lattice. In the original dual-models, which later would be recognized as the origins of string theory, the Koba–Nielsen variables are also named after him and his collaborator Ziro Koba. Nielsen is known in Denmark for his enthusiastic public lectures on physics and string theory, and he is often interviewed in daily news, especially on matters regarding particle physics. In a series of papers uploaded to

arXiv arXiv (pronounced as "archive"—the X represents the Chi (letter), Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not Scholarly pee ...

in 2009, Nielsen and fellow physicist Masao Ninomiya proposed a radical theory to explain the seemingly improbable series of failures preventing the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists, ...

(LHC) from becoming operational. The collider was intended to be used to find evidence of the hypothetical

Higgs boson The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the excited state, quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the field (physics), fields in particl ...

particle. They suggested that the particle might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could create one, in a fashion similar to the time travel Grandfather paradox. Subsequently, the LHC claimed the discovery of Higgs boson on 4 July 2012. Nielsen is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

References

External links

Holger Bech Nielsen
personal page.
Teorien om alting/The Theory of Everything
Internet Movie Database.

, webpage about the book in Danish. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Holger Bech 1941 births Living people 21st-century Danish physicists String theorists Particle physicists University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Theoretical physicists

Work

See also

References

Further reading

External links