Jump to content

Gabriele Veneziano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dcirovic (talk | contribs) at 02:28, 31 May 2016 (clean up using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Gabriele Veneziano
(2007)
Born (1942-09-07) 7 September 1942 (age 82)
Florence, Italy
Alma materUniversity of Florence
Weizmann Institute of Science
Known forString theory
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical physics
InstitutionsCollège de France

Gabriele Veneziano (born 7 September 1942[1]), is an Italian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of string theory.[2][3] He has conducted most of his scientific activities at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, and since 2004, he holds the Chair of Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology at the Collège de France in Paris.[2]

Background

Gabriele Veneziano was born in Florence. In 1965, he earned his Laurea in Theoretical Physics from the University of Florence under the direction of it. He pursued his doctoral studies at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel and obtained his Ph.D. in 1967 under the supervision of Hector Rubinstein. During his stay in Israel and his early years at MIT, he collaborated with Marco Ademollo (a professor in Florence), Miguel Virasoro.[2] and Sergio Fubini.

Between 1968 and 1972 he worked at MIT and CERN. In 1972 he became Amos de Shalit Professor of Physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science and in 1976 he accepted a position in the Theory Division at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland where he worked for more than 30 years and directed the Theory Division (between 1994 and 1997). He currently holds the chair of Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology at the College of France in Paris, France. In fall 2012, he spent a semester at New York University as Global Distinguished Professor.

Research

Gabriele Veneziano first formulated the rudiments of string theory in 1968 when he discovered a string picture could describe the interaction of strongly interacting particles.[4][5][6] Veneziano discovered that the Euler Beta function, interpreted as a scattering amplitude, has many of the features needed to explain the physical properties of strongly interacting particles. This amplitude, known as the Veneziano amplitude, is interpreted as the scattering amplitude for four open string tachyons. In retrospect this work is now considered the founding of string theory although at the time it was not apparent the string picture would lead to a new theory of quantum gravity.

Veneziano's work led to intense research to try to explain the strong force by a field theory of strings about one fermi in length. The rise of quantum chromodynamics, a rival explanation of the strong force, led to a temporary loss of interest in string theories until the 1980s when interest was revived.

In 1991, he published a paper[7] that shows how an inflationary cosmological model can be obtained from string theory, thus opening the door to a description of pre-big bang scenarios.

Society memberships

Awards

References

  1. ^ Biography on the Collège de France website
  2. ^ a b c "biography and bibliography". College de France. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  3. ^ Gasperini, F. and Maharana, J. (2008). "Gabriele Veneziano: A Concise Scientific Biography and an Interview". In Gasperini, Maurizio; Maharana, Jnan (eds.). String Theory and Fundamental Interactions – Gabriele Veneziano and Theoretical Physics: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (PDF). Lecture Notes in Physics. Vol. 737. Springer. pp. 3–27. ISBN 978-3-540-74232-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Veneziano, G. (1968). "Construction of a crossing-symmetric, Regge-behaved amplitude for linearly rising trajectories". Nuovo Cimento A. 57: 190–7. Bibcode:1968NCimA..57..190V. doi:10.1007/BF02824451.
  5. ^ Lovelace, C.; Squires, E. (1970). "Veneziano Theory". Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A. 318 (1534): 321–353. Bibcode:1970RSPSA.318..321L. doi:10.1098/rspa.1970.0148.
  6. ^ Di Vecchia, P. (2008). "The Birth of String Theory". In Gasperini, Maurizio; Maharana, Jnan (eds.). String Theory and Fundamental Interactions – Gabriele Veneziano and Theoretical Physics: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (PDF). Lecture Notes in Physics. Vol. 737. Springer. pp. 59–118. ISBN 978-3-540-74232-6.
  7. ^ Veneziano, G. (1991). "Scale factor duality for classical and quantum strings". Physics Letters B. 265 (3–4): 287. Bibcode:1991PhLB..265..287V. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(91)90055-U.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gabriele_Veneziano&oldid=722947287"