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 and ...

Early life and career

Gupta was born on 1 December 1924 in Punjab, British India. He received his M.Sc. from

St. Stephen's College, Delhi St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, widely regarded as one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges for arts and sciences in India. It was established in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi. The college ...

, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, and worked at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies from 1948 to 1949. From 1951 to 1953 he served as ICI Fellow at the University of Manchester. In 1953 Gupta joined as a visiting professor at Purdue University and remained there until 1956. From 1956, he served as a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, 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 (QED) that takes the covariant Lorenz gauge condition 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 natural ...

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

for a massless spin-2 particle ( graviton). Similar work has also led

Robert Kraichnan Robert Harry Kraichnan (; January 15, 1928 – February 26, 2008), a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was an American theoretical physicist best known for his work on the theory of fluid turbulence. Life Kraichnan received his B.S. and Ph.D ...

in the 1940s (not published until 1955) and later in the 1960s, by Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg. Later he worked in various areas of quantum field theory and elementary particle physics, 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 type ...

and quarkonium.

Personal life and death

Gupta later resided in Franklin, Michigan. He died in West Bloomfield, Michigan 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