Konrad Bleuler (; 23 September 1912,

Herzogenbuchsee Herzogenbuchsee is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Oberaargau (administrative district), Oberaargau administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. The population is 7055 (2 ...

– 1 January 1992,

Königswinter Königswinter (; ; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at the foot of the ...

) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

physicist who worked in the field of 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 ...

and

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

. He is known for his work on the quantisation of the

photon A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless particles that can ...

, the Gupta–Bleuler formalism.

Education and career

Bleuler was born in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on 23 September 1912. He received his doctorate for the mathematical work titled "On the

Rolle's theorem In calculus, Rolle's theorem or Rolle's lemma essentially states that any real-valued differentiable function that attains equal values at two distinct points must have at least one point, somewhere between them, at which the slope of the tangen ...

for the operator Δu + λu and related properties of the Green's function" from the

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

in 1942. His thesis advisor was

Michel Plancherel Michel Plancherel (; 16 January 1885 – 4 March 1967) was a Swiss people, Swiss mathematician. Biography He was born in Bussy, Fribourg, Bussy (Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland) and obtained his Diplom in mathematics from the University of Fribou ...

. From 1960 to 1980 he was a professor at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

, where he founded the Institute of Theoretical Nuclear Physics, which is now the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics. Even after his retirement, he was active and remained there until his death. 1971 Bleuler organized the first "International Conference on Differential Geometric Methods in Theoretical Physics" and since then he had been organizing the conference regularly. The last one was the 19th Conference in 1990 held at

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in the Italy, Italian region of Liguria. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and ...

. In 1993, at the 22nd Conference in his honor a "Bleuler Medal" awarded.

Scientific works

Bleuler's most notable contribution was the introduction of Gupta–Bleuler formalism for the quantization of the

electromagnetic field An electromagnetic field (also EM field) is a physical field, varying in space and time, that represents the electric and magnetic influences generated by and acting upon electric charges. The field at any point in space and time can be regarde ...

, which he developed independently with Suraj N. Gupta. This was an important work on

quantum electrodynamics In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the Theory of relativity, relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quant ...

. Bleuler also made contributions to

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

and

. He also wrote about the work of other famous scientists, so on

Wolfgang Pauli Wolfgang Ernst Pauli ( ; ; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum mechanics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the ...

and

Rolf Nevanlinna Rolf Herman Nevanlinna (né Neovius; 22 October 1895 – 28 May 1980) was a Finnish mathematician who made significant contributions to complex analysis. Background Nevanlinna was born Rolf Herman Neovius, becoming Nevanlinna in 1906 when his fa ...

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript with Konrad Bleuler on 20 January 1984, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
- interview conducted by

Lillian Hoddeson Lillian Hartman Hoddeson (born 20 December 1940, in New York City) is an American historian of science, specializing in the history of physics and technology during the 2nd half of the 20th century. Education and career Hoddeson received in 1957 a ...

in Hischegg, Austria *
Dedicated to Bleuler
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleuler, Konrad 1912 births 1992 deaths People from Oberaargau District Swiss nuclear physicists Quantum physicists ETH Zurich alumni Academic staff of the University of Bonn