HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tsung-Dao Lee (; born November 24, 1926) is a Chinese-American
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
, known for his work on
parity violation In physics, a parity transformation (also called parity inversion) is the flip in the sign of ''one'' spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it can also refer to the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates (a point refle ...
, the Lee–Yang theorem, particle physics, relativistic heavy ion (RHIC) physics, nontopological solitons, and
soliton star In quantum field theory, a non-topological soliton (NTS) is a soliton field configuration possessing, contrary to a topological one, a conserved Noether charge and stable against transformation into usual particles of this field for the following ...
s. He was a
University Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
Emeritus at Columbia University in New York City, where he taught from 1953 until his retirement in 2012. In 1957, Lee, at the age of 30, won the
Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
with
Chen Ning Yang Yang Chen-Ning or Chen-Ning Yang (; born 1 October 1922), also known as C. N. Yang or by the English name Frank Yang, is a Chinese theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrable systems, gauge the ...
for their work on the violation of the parity law in weak interactions, which
Chien-Shiung Wu ) , spouse = , residence = , nationality = ChineseAmerican , field = Physics , work_institutions = Institute of Physics, Academia SinicaUniversity of California at BerkeleySmith CollegePrinceton UniversityColumbia UniversityZhejiang Unive ...
experimentally proved from 1956 to 1957, with her legendary
Wu experiment The Wu experiment was a particle and nuclear physics experiment conducted in 1956 by the Chinese American physicist Chien-Shiung Wu in collaboration with the Low Temperature Group of the US National Bureau of Standards. The experiment's purpose ...
. Lee remains the youngest Nobel laureate in the science fields after World War II. He is the third-youngest Nobel laureate in sciences in history after William L. Bragg (who won the prize at 25 with his father William H. Bragg in 1915) and
Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a Über quantentheoretische Umdeutung kinematis ...
(who won in 1932 also at 30). Lee and Yang were the first Chinese laureates. Since he became a
naturalized American citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
in 1962, Lee is also the youngest American ever to have won a Nobel Prize.


Biography


Family

Lee was born in Shanghai, China, with his
ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...
in nearby Suzhou. His father Chun-kang Lee (), one of the first graduates of the University of Nanking, was a chemical industrialist and merchant who was involved in China's early development of modern synthesized fertilizer. Lee's grandfather Chong-tan Lee () was the first Chinese Methodist Episcopal senior pastor of St. John's Church in Suzhou ( 蘇州聖約翰堂). Lee has four brothers and one sister. Educator Robert C.T. Lee is one of T. D.'s brothers. Lee's mother Chang and brother Robert C. T. moved to Taiwan in the 1950s.


Early life

Lee received his secondary education in Shanghai (High School Affiliated to Soochow University, 東吳大學附屬中學) and
Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into ...
(Jiangxi Joint High School, 江西聯合中學). Due to the Second Sino-Japanese war, Lee's high school education was interrupted, thus he did not obtain his secondary diploma. Nevertheless, in 1943, Lee directly applied to and was admitted by the National Che Kiang University (now
Zhejiang University Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the na ...
). Initially, Lee registered as a student in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Very quickly, Lee's talent was discovered and his interest in physics grew rapidly. Several physics professors, including
Shu Xingbei Shu Xingbei (; October 1, 1905 - October 30, 1983), also known as Hsin Pei Soh, was a Chinese physicist and educator. Life Early years Shu was born on 1 October 1905, in Hanjiang, Jiangsu Province. In 1924, he entered Hangchow University (aka ...
and
Wang Ganchang Wang Ganchang (; May 28, 1907 – December 10, 1998) was a Chinese nuclear physicist. He was one of the founding fathers of Chinese nuclear physics, cosmic rays and particle physics. Wang was also a leader in the fields of detonation phys ...
, largely guided Lee, and he soon transferred into the Department of Physics of
National Che Kiang University National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
, where he studied in 1943–1944. However, again disrupted by a further Japanese invasion, Lee continued at the
National Southwestern Associated University When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Univers ...
in Kunming the next year in 1945, where he studied with Professor
Wu Ta-You Wu Ta-You () (27 September 1907 – 4 March 2000) was a Chinese physicist and writer who worked in the United States, Canada, mainland China and Taiwan. He has been called the Father of Chinese Physics. Early life and education Wu was born i ...
.


Life and research in US

Professor Wu nominated Lee for a Chinese government fellowship for graduate study in the US. In 1946, Lee went to the University of Chicago and was selected by Professor Enrico Fermi to become his PhD student. Lee received his Ph.D. under Fermi in 1950 for his research work ''Hydrogen Content of White Dwarf Stars''. Lee served as research associate and lecturer in physics at the University of California at Berkeley from 1950 to 1951. In 1953, Lee joined Columbia University, where he remained until retirement. His first work at Columbia was on a solvable model of quantum field theory better known as the Lee model. Soon, his focus turned to particle physics and the developing puzzle of
K meson KAON (Karlsruhe ontology) is an ontology infrastructure developed by the University of Karlsruhe and the Research Center for Information Technologies in Karlsruhe. Its first incarnation was developed in 2002 and supported an enhanced version of ...
decays. Lee realized in early 1956 that the key to the puzzle was parity non-conservation. At Lee's suggestion, the first experimental test was on hyperion decay by the Steinberger group. At that time, the experimental result gave only an indication of a 2 standard deviation effect of possible
parity violation In physics, a parity transformation (also called parity inversion) is the flip in the sign of ''one'' spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it can also refer to the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates (a point refle ...
. Encouraged by this feasibility study, Lee made a systematic study of possible Time reversal (T), Parity (P), Charge Conjugation (C), and CP violations in
weak interactions In nuclear physics and particle physics, the weak interaction, which is also often called the weak force or weak nuclear force, is one of the four known fundamental interactions, with the others being electromagnetism, the strong interaction, ...
with collaborators, including C. N. Yang. After the definitive experimental confirmation by
Chien-Shiung Wu ) , spouse = , residence = , nationality = ChineseAmerican , field = Physics , work_institutions = Institute of Physics, Academia SinicaUniversity of California at BerkeleySmith CollegePrinceton UniversityColumbia UniversityZhejiang Unive ...
and her assistants that showed that parity was not conserved, Lee and Yang were awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics. Unfortunately Wu was not awarded the Nobel prize, which is considered one of the largest controversies in Nobel committee history. In the early 1960s, Lee and collaborators initiated the important field of high energy neutrino physics. In 1964, Lee, with M. Nauenberg, analyzed the divergences connected with particles of zero rest mass, and described a general method known as the
KLN theorem KLN may refer to: * King's Lynn railway station, National Rail station code KLN * Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density o ...
for dealing with these divergences, which still plays an important role in contemporary work in QCD, with its massless, self-interacting gluons. In 1974–75, Lee published several papers on "A New Form of Matter in High Density", which led to the modern field of RHIC physics, now dominating the entire high energy nuclear physics field. Besides particle physics, Lee has been active in statistical mechanics, astrophysics, hydrodynamics, many body system, solid state, lattice QCD. In 1983, Lee wrote a paper entitled, "Can Time Be a Discrete Dynamical Variable?"; which led to a series of publications by Lee and collaborators on the formulation of fundamental physics in terms of difference equations, but with exact invariance under continuous groups of translational and rotational transformations. Beginning in 1975, Lee and collaborators established the field of non-topological solitons, which led to his work on soliton stars and black holes throughout the 1980s and 1990s. From 1997 to 2003, Lee was director of the RIKEN-BNL Research Center (now director emeritus), which together with other researchers from Columbia, completed a 1 teraflops supercomputer QCDSP for lattice QCD in 1998 and a 10 teraflops
QCDOC The QCDOC (quantum chromodynamics on a chip) is a supercomputer technology focusing on using relatively cheap low power processing elements to produce a massively parallel machine. The machine is custom-made to solve small but extremely demanding ...
machine in 2001. Most recently, Lee and
Richard M. Friedberg Richard M. Friedberg (born October 8, 1935), is a theoretical physicist who has contributed to a wide variety of problems in mathematics and physics. These include mathematical logic, number theory, solid state physics, general relativity, particl ...
have developed a new method to solve the Schrödinger equation, leading to convergent iterative solutions for the long-standing quantum degenerate double-wall potential and other instanton problems. They have also done work on the neutrino mapping matrix. Lee is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for the
Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-relat ...
's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.


Educational activities

Soon after the re-establishment of China-American relations with the PRC, Lee and his wife, Jeannette Hui-Chun Chin (), were able to go to China, where Lee gave a series of lectures and seminars, and organized the
CUSPEA CUSPEA (China-U.S. Physics Examination and Application,李政道奖学金) was an examination and admission system used by the physics departments of some American and Canadian universities for graduate school admission from People's Republic of Ch ...
(China-U.S. Physics Examination and Application). In 1998, Lee established the Chun-Tsung Endowment (秦惠䇹—李政道中国大学生见习基金) in memory of his wife, who had died 3 years earlier. The Chun-Tsung scholarships, supervised by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (New York), are awarded to undergraduates, usually in their 2nd or 3rd year, at six universities, which are
Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU; ) is a public research university in Shanghai, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university was established on April 8, 1896 as Nanyang Public School (南洋� ...
,
Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is also ...
,
Lanzhou University Lanzhou University () is a major research university in Lanzhou, Gansu, China. Founded in 1909, it is one of the key universities under China's Ministry of Education (Double First Class University Plan, former Project 985 and Project 211). It ...
, Soochow University,
Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...
and National Tsing Hua University. Students selected for such scholarships are named "Chun-Tsung Scholars" (䇹政学者).


Personal life

Chin and Lee were married in 1950 and have two sons: James and Stephen.


Honours and awards

; Awards *
Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
(1957) * G. Bude Medal, Collège de France (1969, 1977) * Galileo Galilei Medal (1979) * Order of Merit, Grande Ufficiale, Italy (1986) * Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture and Medal (1993) * Science for Peace Prize (1994) * China National-International Cooperation Award (1995) * Matteucci Medal (1995) * Naming of Small Planet 3443 as the 3443 Leetsungdao (1997) * New York City Science Award (1997) * Pope Joannes Paulus Medal (1999) * Ministero dell'Interno Medal of the Government of Italy (1999) * New York Academy of Science Award (2000) * The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, Japan (2007) ; Memberships * National Academy of Sciences *
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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 ...
*
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
*
Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...
*
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...
*
Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...
* Third World Academy of Sciences *
Pontifical Academy of Sciences The Pontifical Academy of Sciences ( it, Pontificia accademia delle scienze, la, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum) is a scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mat ...


Selected publications

; Technical Reports *
Conservation Laws in Weak Interactions
" Columbia University, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission, March 1957). *
Weak Interactions
" Columbia University, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission, June 1957). * (with C.N. Yang)
Elementary Particles and Weak Interactions
"
Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratories, United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at th ...
, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission, October 1957). *
History of Weak Interactions
" Columbia University, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), July 1970). *
High Energy Electromagnetic and Weak Interaction Processes
"
Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratories, United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at th ...
, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission, January 11, 1972). ; Books * * * * * * * *


See also

* * *
Chinese people in New York City The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing all 34 provincial-level administrative units of China. The Chinese American population ...


References


External links


T.D. Lee's English homepage

T.D. Lee Digital Resource Center


* including his Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1957 ''Weak Interactions and Nonconservation of Parity'' *
Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratories, United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at th ...

Tsung-Dao Lee Appointed as Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Celebration of T.D. Lee's 80th Birthday and the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of Parity Non-conservation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Tsung-Dao 1926 births Living people American Nobel laureates 21st-century American physicists Brookhaven National Laboratory Nobel laureates Chinese emigrants to the United States Columbia University faculty Institute for Advanced Study faculty Members of Academia Sinica Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Nankai University alumni Nobel laureates in Physics Nobel laureates of the Republic of China Particle physicists Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class Scientists from Shanghai Scientists from Suzhou Shanghai Nobel laureates Theoretical physicists University of Chicago alumni Zhejiang University alumni Zhejiang University faculty National Southwestern Associated University alumni People with acquired American citizenship Fellows of the American Physical Society Recipients of the Matteucci Medal