Maurice René Michel Jacob ( – ) was a French theoretical particle physicist.

Biography

Maurice Jacob studied physics at

École normale supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education sca ...

from 1953 to 1957. During a visit to the

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...

in 1959, he developed with

Gian-Carlo Wick Gian Carlo Wick (15 October 1909 – 20 April 1992) was an Italian theoretical physicist who made important contributions to quantum field theory. The Wick rotation, Wick contraction, Wick's theorem, and the Wick product are named after him.

the helicity formalism for relativistic description of scattering of particles with spin and the decay of particles and resonant states. In 1961, he obtained a doctorate on this subject at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

. His thesis advisors were professors Francis Perrin and

. Jacob then moved, as a post-doctoral fellow, to

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. He worked in

Saclay Saclay () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It had a population of 3,067 in 2006. It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and p ...

from 1961 to 1967. Since 1967, he has worked at CERN until his retirement in 1998. From 1982 to 1988, he headed the theoretical physics division of CERN and in the 1990s, he was responsible for CERN's relations with its Member States. Maurice Jacob's research focuses on the phenomenology of strong interactions, including diffraction, scaling, high-transverse-momentum processes and the formation of

quark–gluon plasma Quark–gluon plasma (QGP) or quark soup is an interacting localized assembly of quarks and gluons at thermal (local kinetic) and (close to) chemical (abundance) equilibrium. The word ''plasma'' signals that free color charges are allowed. In a ...

. In particular, he pioneered the studies of inclusive hadron-production processes, including scaling and its violations. He contributed also to the field of accelerator physics together with Tai Tsun Wu. He supported

Carlo Rubbia Carlo Rubbia (born 31 March 1934) is an Italian particle physicist and inventor who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 with Simon van der Meer for work leading to the discovery of the W and Z particles at CERN. Early life and educat ...

during the construction of the

Super Proton Synchrotron The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) is a particle accelerator of the synchrotron type at CERN. It is housed in a circular tunnel, in circumference, straddling the border of France and Switzerland near Geneva, Switzerland. History The SPS was d ...

(SPS) in the 1980s. Jacob chaired the French Physical Society from 1985 to 2002 and from 1991 to 1993 he was president of the

European Physical Society The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach. Formally established in 1968, its membership includes the national physical so ...

. In 1993, he became a member of the American Physical Society. He was co-editor of

Physics Letters B Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rela ...

and

Physics Reports ''Physics Reports'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, a review section of '' Physics Letters'' that has been published by Elsevier since 1971. The journal publishes long and deep reviews on all aspects of physics. In average, the length of the ...

. He was appointed member of the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

scientific council in 1988. He was a corresponding member of the

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

from 1977, member of the

Swedish Royal Academies The Royal Academies are independent organizations, founded on Royal command, that act to promote the arts, culture, and science in Sweden. The Swedish Academy and Academy of Sciences are also responsible for the selection of Nobel Prize laureate ...

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

and also scientific advisor to the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

Awards and honors

CNRS Silver Medal The CNRS Silver Medal is a scientific award given every year to about fifteen researchers by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). It is awarded to a researcher for "the originality, quality and importance of their work, re ...

(1967) * Legion of Honour (1994)

Marriage and children

Maurice Jacob was married to Lise Jacob. Together they have 4 children Jimmy, Thierry, Francis, and Irène.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Maurice Particle physicists Theoretical physicists People associated with CERN 1933 births 2007 deaths École Normale Supérieure alumni Knights of the Legion of Honour University of Paris alumni Members of the French Academy of Sciences Academic journal editors 20th-century French physicists Members of Academia Europaea 21st-century French physicists Scientists from Lyon Presidents of the European Physical Society Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Presidents of the Société Française de Physique Fellows of the American Physical Society