Suraj Narayan Gupta (1 December 1924 – 4 July 2021) was an Indian-born American theoretical physicist, notable for his contributions to

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 a ...

Early life and career

Gupta was born on 1 December 1924 in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He received his M.Sc. from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and a Ph.D. from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, and worked at the

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...

from 1948 to 1949. From 1951 to 1953 he served as ICI Fellow at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

. In 1953 Gupta joined as a visiting professor at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

and remained there until 1956. From 1956, he served as a professor at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, where he was a Distinguished Professor of Physics (Emeritus).

Work

Gupta introduced in 1950, simultaneously and independently of

Konrad Bleuler Konrad Bleuler (; 23 September 1912, Herzogenbuchsee – 1 January 1992, Königswinter) was a Swiss physicist who worked in the field of theoretical particle physics and quantum field theory. He is known for his work on the quantisation of the p ...

, the Gupta–Bleuler quantization of the

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

(QED) that takes the covariant

Lorenz gauge condition In electromagnetism, the Lorenz gauge condition or Lorenz gauge, for Ludvig Lorenz, is a partial gauge fixing of the electromagnetic vector potential by requiring \partial_\mu A^\mu = 0. The name is frequently confused with Hendrik Lorentz, who h ...

on an indefinite metric in

Hilbert space In mathematics, Hilbert spaces (named after David Hilbert) allow generalizing the methods of linear algebra and calculus from (finite-dimensional) Euclidean vector spaces to spaces that may be infinite-dimensional. Hilbert spaces arise natu ...

of states realized. From it came some of the first attempts, to derive the equations of

general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. ...

from

for a massless spin-2 particle (

graviton In theories of quantum gravity, the graviton is the hypothetical quantum of gravity, an elementary particle that mediates the force of gravitational interaction. There is no complete quantum field theory of gravitons due to an outstanding mathe ...

). Similar work has also led Robert Kraichnan in the 1940s (not published until 1955) and later in the 1960s, by

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

and

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...

. Later he worked in various areas of quantum field theory and elementary

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and ...

, including

quantum chromodynamics In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a ty ...

and

quarkonium In particle physics, quarkonium (from quark and -onium, pl. quarkonia) is a flavorless meson whose constituents are a heavy quark and its own antiquark, making it both a neutral particle and its own antiparticle. Light quarks Light quarks ( u ...

Personal life and death

Gupta later resided in

Franklin, Michigan Franklin is a village in Southfield Township, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,150 at the 2010 census. The community is known for large, estate-style homes. The downtown was designated as an historic district, t ...

. He died in

West Bloomfield, Michigan West Bloomfield Township, officially the Charter Township of West Bloomfield, is a charter township in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan, within the Detroit metropolitan area. It is one of the most expensive places to live in Oakl ...

on 4 July 2021, at the age of 96.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Suraj N. 1924 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Indian physicists 21st-century American physicists Indian quantum physicists Alumni of the University of Cambridge Scientists from Punjab, India Indian particle physicists Indian emigrants to the United States Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom Purdue University faculty Wayne State University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies