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) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

physicist who worked in the field of theoretical particle physics and

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...

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

Gupta–Bleuler formalism In quantum field theory, the Gupta–Bleuler formalism is a way of quantizing the electromagnetic field. The formulation is due to theoretical physicists Suraj N. Gupta and Konrad Bleuler. Overview Firstly, consider a single photon. A basis o ...

Education and career

Bleuler was born in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

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 stationary point somewhere between them—that is, a point wher ...

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

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

in 1942. His thesis advisor was

Michel Plancherel Michel Plancherel (16 January 1885, Bussy, Fribourg4 March 1967, Zurich) was a Swiss mathematician. He was born in Bussy (Fribourg, Switzerland) and obtained his Diplom in mathematics from the University of Fribourg and then his doctoral degree ...

. From 1960 to 1980 he was a professor at the University of Bonn, 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. In 1993, at the 22nd Conference in his honor a "Bleuler Medal" awarded.

Scientific works

Bleuler's most notable contribution was the introduction of

for the quantization of the

electromagnetic field An electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by (stationary or moving) electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical c ...

, which he developed independently with

Suraj N. Gupta Suraj Narayan Gupta (1 December 1924 – 4 July 2021) was an Indian-born American theoretical physicist, notable for his contributions to quantum field theory. Early life and career Gupta was born on 1 December 1924 in Punjab, British India. He ...

. This was an important work on quantum electrodynamics. 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 particle physics. He also wrote about the work of other famous scientists, so on Wolfgang Pauli and Rolf Nevanlinna.

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 physicists Swiss nuclear physicists Quantum physicists ETH Zurich alumni Academic staff of the University of Bonn