John Clive Ward
| John Clive Ward | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 1, 1924 London, England |
| Died | May 6, 2000 (aged 75) Victoria, British Columbia |
| Nationality | Australian, British |
| Fields | Particle Physics |
| Institutions | Institute for Advanced Study Bell Laboratories University of Adelaide University of Maryland University of Miami Carnegie Institute of Technology Johns Hopkins University Victoria University of Wellington Macquarie University |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Doctoral advisor | Maurice H. L. Pryce |
| Notable students | F. J. Duarte |
| Known for | Electroweak theory Quantum electrodynamics Quantum field theory Renormalization theory Ward identity |
| Notable awards | Guthrie Medal (1981) Heineman Prize (1982) Hughes Medal (1983) |
John Clive Ward (August 1, 1924 – May 6, 2000), was a British-Australian physicist. His most famous creation was the Ward-Takahashi identity, originally known as "Ward Identity" (or "Ward Identities").[1] This celebrated result, in quantum electrodynamics, was inspired by a conjecture of Dyson[2] and was disclosed in a one-half page letter typical of Ward's succinct style. In their recent book entitled Quantum Electrodynamics, Greiner and Reinhardt state in their discussion of charge renormalization: "Yet the Ward Identity has a much more fundamental significance: it ensures the universality of the electromagnetic interaction."[3]
Andrei Sakharov classified Ward as one of the "titans" of quantum electrodynamics alongside Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga.[4] In this regard, it has been said that physicists have made use of his principles and developments "often without knowing it, and generally without quoting him."[5]
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[edit] Additional contributions
In a 1947 paper, published in Nature (with Maurice Pryce), Ward was the first to calculate the correlation of the quantum polarizations of two photons propagating in opposite directions.[6] This prediction was experimentally confirmed by Wu and Shaknov in 1950.[7] In current terminology this result corresponds to a pair of entangled photons and is directly relevant to a typical Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox, or situation.[8]
He is also one of the creators of the Standard Model. His contributions were published in a series of papers co-authored with A. Salam[9][10][11][12] An insightful and well documented discussion on Ward's contribution to the physics of the Standard Model is given in the recent book Cosmic Anger.[13]
In addition, he made important contributions to quantum mechanics,[14][15] fermion theory,[16] quantum solid-state physics,[17] and statistical mechanics.[18][19] He is further credited with being an early pioneer in the use of Feynman diagrams.[20]
In 1955-1956 Ward worked, at Aldermaston, on British atomic weapons and has been portrayed as the "creator of the British hydrogen bomb".[21] This topic is discussed by historian Lorna Arnold[22] while Ward's own account is given in his memoirs.[23] An additional analysis on this issue is provided by one of Ward's colleagues, and friend, Richard Dalitz.[8]
[edit] Macquarie University
After World War II, Ward worked in several places in the United States and eventually he moved to Sydney, Australia, via New Zealand.[8] In 1964 he created the physics program of Macquarie University using the Feynman Lectures on Physics as primary textbooks. This program had a strong experimental emphasis and Ward himself (whom originally was trained as an engineer) "had great admiration for anything practical".[24] In the late 1970s he participated, with Frank Duarte, in the Macquarie science reform movement.[25][26]
Besides his physics, Ward was an accomplished pianist and French horn player. He has an Erdős number of 2.
[edit] See also
- BRST quantization
- Chiral anomaly
- Feynman diagrams
- Gauge fixing
- Gauge theory
- Ising model
- Luttinger's theorem
- Noether's theorem
- Path integral formulation (of quantum mechanics).
- Quantum electrodynamics
- Renormalization
- Standard model
- Vacuum polarization
- Vertex function
- Ward–Takahashi identity (Includes a brief description of the Ward Identity).
[edit] References
- ^ J. C. Ward, An identity in quantum electrodynamics, Phys. Rev. 78, 182 (1950).
- ^ F. J. Dyson, The S matrix in quantum electrodynamics, Phys. Rev. 75, 1736-1755 (1949).
- ^ W. Greiner and J, Reinhardt, Quantum Electrodynamics, 4th Ed. (Springer, Berlin, 2009).
- ^ A. Sakharov, Memoirs (Knopf, New York, 1990).
- ^ M. Dunhill, Professor John Clive Ward, in The Merton Record (Oxford University, Oxford, 1995).
- ^ M. H. L. Pryce and J. C. Ward, Angular correlation effects with annihilation radiation, Nature 160, 435 (1947).
- ^ C. S. Wu and I. Shaknov, The angular correlation of scattered annihilation radiation, Phys. Rev. 77, 136 (1950).
- ^ a b c R. H. Dalitz and F. J. Duarte, John Clive Ward, Physics Today 53 (10), 99-100 (2000).
- ^ A. Salam and J. C. Ward, Weak and electromagnetic interactions, Nuovo Cimento 11, 568-577 (1959).
- ^ A. Salam and J. C. Ward, On a gauge theory of elementary interactions, Nuovo Cimento 19, 166-170 (1961).
- ^ A. Salam and J. C. Ward, Electromagnetic and weak interactions, Phys. Lett. 13, 168-171 (1964).
- ^ A. Salam and J. C. Ward, Gauge theory of elementary interactions, Phys. Rev. 136 B, 763-768 (1964).
- ^ G. Fraser, Cosmic Anger (Oxford University, Oxford, 2008).
- ^ J. C. Ward, Some Properties of Elementary Particles (D. Phil. Thesis, Oxford University, 1949).
- ^ E. W. Montroll and J. C. Ward, Quantum statistics of interacting particles; general theory and some remarks on properties of an electron gas, Phys. Fluids 1, 55-72 (1958).
- ^ J. M. Luttinger and J. C. Ward, Ground-state energy and many-fermion system, Phys. Rev. 118, 1417-1427 (1960).
- ^ J. C. Ward and J. Wilks, Second sound and the thermo-mechanical effect, Phil. Mag. 43, 48-50 (1952).
- ^ M. Kac and J. C. Ward, A combinatorial solution of the two-dimensional Ising model, Phys. Rev. 88, 1332-1337 (1952).
- ^ E. W. Montroll, R. B. Potts, and J. C. Ward, Correlations and spontaneous magnetization of the two-dimensional Ising model, J. Math. Phys. 4, 308-322 (1963).
- ^ D. Kaiser, Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics (University of Chicago, Chicago, 2005).
- ^ J. V. Malheiros, Publico (Lisbon, 4 April 1992) pp. 2-6 in Portuguese.
- ^ L. Arnold, Britain and the H-Bomb (Palgrave, New York, 2001).
- ^ J. C. Ward, Memoirs of a Theoretical Physicist (Optics Journal, Rochester, New York, 2004) Chapter 8.
- ^ F. J. Duarte, The man behind an identity in quantum electrodynamics, Australian Physics 46 (6), 171-175 (2009).
- ^ B. Mansfield and M. Hutchinson, Liberality of Opportunity: A history of Macquarie University 1964-1989 (Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1992).
- ^ J. C. Ward, Memoirs of a Theoretical Physicist (Optics Journal, Rochester, New York, 2004) Chapter 13.
[edit] External links
- Unfinished autobiography: J. C. Ward, Memoirs of a Theoretical Physicist (Optics Journal, Rochester, New York, 2004. (online).
- Biographical note (includes Ward's publications and picture).
- AIP biography (R. H. Dalitz and F. J. Duarte, Physics Today 53 (10), 99–100 (2000)).
