Silvan Samuel Schweber (10 April 1928 in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

– 14 May 2017) was a French-born American theoretical physicist and historian of science. Schweber was born in France to an orthodox Jewish family. During the Second World War the family fled first within France and then via Spain, Portugal and Cuba to the United States where they settled in New York in 1942. In 1944 Schweber began to study chemistry at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

and in 1947 moved to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

as a physics major, where he studied with Walter Elsasser and Herbert Jehle. After obtaining his master's degree in 1949, he went to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where he studied with

David Bohm David Joseph Bohm (; 20 December 1917 – 27 October 1992) was an American scientist who has been described as one of the most significant Theoretical physics, theoretical physicists of the 20th centuryDavid Peat Who's Afraid of Schrödinger' ...

and

Eugene Wigner Eugene Paul Wigner (, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of th ...

. In 1952 he received his doctorate under

Arthur Wightman Arthur Strong Wightman (March 30, 1922 – January 13, 2013) was an American mathematical physicist. He was one of the founders of the axiomatic approach to quantum field theory, and originated the set of Wightman axioms. With his rigorous treatm ...

. After that, he was a postdoctoral fellow with

Hans Bethe Hans Albrecht Eduard Bethe (; ; July 2, 1906 – March 6, 2005) was a German-American physicist who made major contributions to nuclear physics, astrophysics, quantum electrodynamics and solid-state physics, and received the Nobel Prize in Physi ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and in 1954 at the

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. From 1955 he was a professor at the newly founded

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

. He wrote a book on

relativistic quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of suba ...

published in 1961, available in reprint by

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, book ...

. From 1981 Schweber was a Faculty Associate in the Department of the History of Science at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He was also a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

and of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. In 2011 he was awarded the

Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics The Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics is an award given each year since 2005 jointly by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics for "''outstanding scholarly achievements in the history of physics''". The prize is ...

. Schweber died on 14 May 2017 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

Selected publications

* QED and the Men Who Made It:

Dyson Dyson may refer to: * Dyson (surname), people with the surname Dyson * Dyson (company), a Singaporean multinational home appliances company founded by James Dyson * Dyson (crater), a crater on the Moon * Dyson (operating system), a Unix general- ...

Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of t ...

, Schwinger, and

Tomonaga Tomonaga is both a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname. Written forms Tomonaga can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *友永, "friend, eternity" *友長, "friend, long/leader ...

(Princeton University Press, 1994) * In the Shadow of the Bomb:

Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often ...

Bethe The House of Betha or Bethe is an Austro-German noble family constituting a part of the Uradel. Noted in Prussian history since the early 14th century, the lineage has constituted various ecclesiastical and political roles, such as Crusader knight ...

, and the Moral Responsibility of the Scientist (Princeton University Press, 2007) *

Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

and

: The Meaning of Genius (2009) * Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist

(2012)

References

External links

Faculty website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schweber, Silvan 1928 births 2017 deaths American physicists American historians of science Harvard University Department of History faculty City College of New York alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Princeton University alumni Brandeis University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences