Murray Gell-Mann

Murray Gell-Mann (/mri l mn/; born Septem-ber 15, 1929) is an American physicist who received the1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theoryof elementary particles. He is the Robert Andrews Mil-likan Professor of Theoretical Physics Emeritus at theCalifornia Institute of Technology, a Distinguished Fel-low and co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute, Professor inthe Physics and Astronomy Department of the Universityof NewMexico, and the Presidential Professor of Physicsand Medicine at the University of Southern California.[1]Gell-Mann has spent several periods at CERN, amongothers as a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Founda-tion Fellow in 1972.[2]

He introduced, independently of George Zweig, thequarkconstituents of all hadronshaving rst identi-ed the SU(3) avor symmetry of hadrons. This sym-metry is now understood to underlie the light quarks, ex-tending isospin to include strangeness, a quantum numberwhich he also discovered.He developed the VA theory of the weak interaction incollaboration with Richard Feynman. In the 1960s, heintroduced current algebra as a method of systematicallyexploiting symmetries to extract predictions from quarkmodels, in the absence of reliable dynamical theory. Thismethod led to model-independent sum rules conrmed byexperiment and provided starting points underpinning thedevelopment of the standard theory of elementary parti-cles.Gell-Mann, along with Maurice Lvy, developed thesigma model of pions, which describes low-energypion interactions. Modifying the integer-charged quarkmodel of Moo-Young Han and Yoichiro Nambu, HaraldFritzsch and Gell-Mann were the rst to write down themodern accepted theory of quantum chromodynamics,although they did not anticipate asymptotic freedom. In1969 he received the Nobel Prize in physics for his con-tributions and discoveries concerning the classication ofelementary particles and their interactions.[3]

Gell-Mann is responsible, together with Pierre Ra-mond and Richard Slansky, and independently of PeterMinkowski, Rabindra Mohapatra, Goran Senjanovic,Sheldon Lee Glashow, and Tsutomu Yanagida, for thesee-saw theory of neutrino masses, that produces massesat the large scale in any theory with a right-handed neu-trino. He is also known to have played a large role inkeeping string theory alive through the 1970s and early1980s, supporting that line of research at a time when itwas unpopular.

1 Early life and educationGell-Mann was born in lower Manhattan into a familyof Jewish immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Em-pire.[4][5] His parents were Pauline (ne Reichstein) andArthur Isidore Gell-Mann, who taught English as a Sec-ond Language (ESL).[6]

Propelled by an intense boyhood curiosity and love fornature and mathematics, he graduated valedictorian fromthe Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and sub-sequently entered Yale at the age of 15 as a member ofJonathan Edwards College. At Yale, he participated inthe William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competitionand was on the team representing Yale University (alongwithMurray Gerstenhaber and Henry O. Pollak) that wonthe second prize in 1947. Gell-Mann earned a bachelorsdegree in physics fromYale in 1948, and a PhD in physicsfrom MIT in 1951. His advisor at MIT was Victor Weis-skopf.

2 Physics careerIn 1958, Gell-Mann and Richard Feynman, in paral-lel with the independent team of George Sudarshan andRobert Marshak, discovered the chiral structures of theweak interaction in physics. This work followed the ex-perimental discovery of the violation of parity by Chien-Shiung Wu, as suggested by Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee, theoretically.Gell-Manns work in the 1950s involved recently discov-ered cosmic ray particles that came to be called kaons andhyperons. Classifying these particles led him to proposethat a quantum number called strangeness would be con-served by the strong and the electromagnetic interactions,but not by the weak interactions. Another of Gell-Mannsideas is the Gell-Mann-Okubo formula, which was, ini-tially, a formula based on empirical results, but was laterexplained by his quark model. Gell-Mann and AbrahamPais were involved in explaining several puzzling aspectsof the physics of these particles.In 1961, this led him (and Kazuhiko Nishijima) to in-troduce a classication scheme for hadrons, elemen-tary particles that participate in the strong interaction.(This scheme had been independently proposed by YuvalNe'eman.) This scheme is now explained by the quarkmodel. Gell-Mann referred to the scheme as the EightfoldWay, because of the octets of particles in the classica-

1

2 4 AWARDS AND HONORS

tion. (The term is a reference to the eightfold way ofBuddhism.)In 1964, Gell-Mann and, independently, George Zweigwent on to postulate the existence of quarks, particles ofwhich the hadrons of this scheme are composed. Thename was coined by Gell-Mann and is a reference to thenovelFinnegansWake, by James Joyce (Three quarks forMuster Mark!" book 2, episode 4.) Zweig had referredto the particles as aces,[7] but Gell-Manns name caughton. Quarks, antiquarks, and gluons were soon establishedas the underlying elementary objects in the study of thestructure of hadrons. He was awarded a Nobel Prize inphysics in 1969 for his contributions and discoveries con-cerning the classication of elementary particles and theirinteractions.[8]

In 1972 he and Harald Fritzsch introduced the conservedquantum number "color charge", and later, together withHeinrich Leutwyler, they coined the term quantum chro-modynamics (QCD) as the gauge theory of the strong in-teraction. The quark model is a part of QCD, and it hasbeen robust enough naturally to accommodate the dis-covery of new "avors" of quarks, which superseded theeightfold way scheme.During the 1990s, Gell-Manns interest turned to theemerging study of complexity. He played a central role inthe founding of the Santa Fe Institute, where he continuesto work as a distinguished professor.He wrote a popular science book about thesematters, TheQuark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and theComplex. The title of the book is taken from a line of apoem by Arthur Sze: The world of the quark has every-thing to do with a jaguar circling in the night.[9]

The author George Johnson has written a biography ofGell-Mann, which is titled Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann, and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics, whichDr. Gell-Mann has criticized as inaccurate. The NobelPrizewinning physicist Philip Anderson, in his chapteron Gell-Mann,[10] says that Johnsons biography is excel-lent. Both Anderson and Johnson say that Gell-Mann isa perfectionist and that his semibiographical, The Quarkand the Jaguar is consequently incomplete.

3 Personal lifeGell-Mann married Marcia Southwick in 1992, after thedeath of his rst wife, J. Margaret Dow (d. 1981), whomhe married in 1955. His children are Elizabeth SarahGell-Mann (b. 1956) and Nicholas Webster Gell-Mann(b. 1963); and he has a stepson, Nicholas SouthwickLevis (b. 1978).Gell-Mann has interests in birdwatching, collectingantiques, ranching, historical linguistics, archaeology,natural history, the psychology of creative thinking, othersubjects connected with biological, and cultural evolution

and with learning.[3][11] Along with S. A. Starostin, he es-tablished the Evolution of Human Languages project[12] atthe Santa Fe Institute.He is currently the Robert Andrews Millikan Professorof Theoretical Physics Emeritus at California Instituteof Technology as well as a University Professor in thePhysics and Astronomy Department of the Universityof New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and thePresidential Professor of Physics and Medicine at theUniversity of Southern California. He is a member ofthe editorial board of the Encyclopdia Britannica. In1984 Gell-Mann co-founded the Santa Fe Instituteanon-prot theoretical research institute in Santa Fe, NewMexicoto study complex systems and disseminate thenotion of a separate interdisciplinary study of complexitytheory.He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for AdvancedStudy in 1951, and a visiting research professor at theUniversity of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign from 1952 to1953. He was a visiting associate professor at ColumbiaUniversity and an associate professor at the University ofChicago in 1954-55 before moving to the California In-stitute of Technology, where he taught from 1955 untilhe retired in 1993.As a humanist and an agnostic, Gell-Mann is a Human-ist Laureate in the International Academy of Human-ism.[13][14]

Gell-Mann endorsed Barack Obama for the United Statespresidency in October 2008.[15]

4 Awards and honors Nobel Prize in Physics (1969) Ernest O. Lawrence Award (1966) Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award(1962)

Albert Einstein Medal (2005) Yale University D.Sc (h.c.), 1959 American Physical Society Dannie HeinemanPrize for Mathematical Physics, 1959

University of Chicago Sc.D.(h.c.), 1967 Franklin Medal, 1967 National Academy of Sciences John J. CartyAward, 1968[16]

University of Illinois Sc.D.(h.c.), 1968 Wesleyan University Sc.D.(h.c.), 1968 Research Corporation Award, 1969

3 University of Turin, Italy Honorary Doctorate,1969

University of Utah Sc.D.(h.c.), 1970 Columbia University Sc.D.(h.c.), 1977 University of Cambridge, England Sc.D.(h.c.),1980

United Nations Environment Programme Roll ofHonor for Environmental Achievement (The Global500), 1988

World Federation of Scientists Erice Prize, 1990 University of Oxford, England D.Sc.(h.c.), 1992 Southern Illinois University Sc.D.(h.c.), 1993 University of Florida Sc.D.(h.c.), Doctorate ofNatural Resources, 1994

Southern Methodist University Sc.D.(h.c.), 1999 American Humanist Association Humanist of theYear, 2005

Helmholtz-Medal of the Berlin-BrandenbergAcademy of Sciences and Humanities, 2014[17]

5 See also List of Jewish Nobel laureates Quark Gell-Mann matrices

6 Notes[1] Nobel Prize Winner Appointed Presidential Professor at

USC.

[2] CERN-aliated article by Gell-Mann. Springer. Re-trieved 11 June 2015.

[3] http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1969/gell-mann-bio.html

[4] M. Gell-Mann (October 1997). My Father. Web of Sto-ries. Retrieved 2010-10-01.

[5] J. Brockman (2003). The Making of a Physicist: A talkwith Murray Gell-Mann. Edge.org. Retrieved 2010-10-01.

[6] Prole, imdb.com; accessed April 26, 2015.

[7] G. Zweig (1980) [1964]. An SU(3) model for strong in-teraction symmetry and its breaking II. In D. Lichten-berg and S. Rosen. Developments in the Quark Theory ofHadrons 1. Hadronic Press. pp. 22101.

[8] Nobel Prize in Physics, 1969

[9] Murray Gell-Mann - Physicist - The decision to writeThe Quark and the Jaguar - Web of Stories.

[10] Anderson, Philip W. (2011). Ch. V Genius. Search forPolymaths Elementary Particles. More and Dierent:Notes from a Thoughtful Curmudgeon. World Scientic.pp. 2412. ISBN 978-981-4350-14-3.Philip Anderson,More and Dierent, Chapter V, World Scientic, 2011.

[11] SANTA FE, New Mexico (NM) Political Contributionsby Individuals

[12] Peregrine, Peter Neal (2009). Ancient Human Mi-grations: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Universityof Utah Press. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-87480-942-8.Sergei+Starostin+and+I+established+the+Evolution+of+Human+Languages+projectSergei Starostin and I established the Evolution of Hu-man Languages project

[13] The International Academy of Humanism at the web-site of the Council for Secular Humanism. Retrieved 18October 2007. Some of this information is also at theInternational Humanist and Ethical Union website

[14] Herman Wouk (2010). The Language God Talks: OnScience and Religion. Hachette Digital, Inc. ISBN9780316096751. Feynman, Gell-Man, Weinberg, andtheir peers accept Newtons incomparable stature andshrug o his piety, on the kindly thought that the old mangot into the game too early. ...As for Gell-Mann, he seemsto see nothing to discuss in this entire God business, andin the index to The Quark and the Jaguar God goes un-mentioned. Life he called a complex adaptive systemwhich produces interesting phenomena such as the jaguarand Murray Gell-Mann, who discovered the quark. Gell-Mann is a Nobel-class tackler of problems, but for himthe existence of God is not one of them.

[15] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFaTrOFXrs8

[16] John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science.National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 7 March 2011.

[17] http://www.bbaw.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilungen/portal_factory/PDFs/bbaw-10-2014

7 Further reading Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from theOce of Scientic and Technical Information,United States Department of Energy

Encyclopdia Britannicas Biography of MurrayGell-Mann

Fritzsch, H.; Gell-Mann, M.; Leutwyler, H. (26November 1973). Advantages of the coloroctet gluon picture (PDF). Physics Letters B47 (4): 3658. Bibcode:1973PhLB...47..365F.doi:10.1016/0370-2693(73)90625-4.

4 8 EXTERNAL LINKS

Fritzsch, H.; Gell-Mann, M. (1972). Currentalgebra- quarks and what else?". In Jackson, J.D.;Roberts, A.; International Union of Pure and Ap-plied Physics. Proceedings of the XVI InternationalConference on High Energy Physics 2. NationalAccelerator Laboratory. pp. 135165. OCLC57672574.

Murray Gell-Mann tells his life story at Web of Sto-ries

Strange Beauty home page The Making of a Physicist: A Talk With MurrayGell-Mann

Berreby, D. (8 May 1994). The Man Who KnowsEverything. New York Times.

The Man With Five Brains The many worlds of Murray Gell-Mann The Simple and the Complex, Part I: The Quantumand the Quasi-Classical with Murray Gell-Mann,Ph.D.

Nobel Prize Biography

8 External links Inspire prole of Murray Gell-Manns publication(nuclear and particle physics)

Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from theDepartment of Energy, Oce of Scientic & Tech-nical Information

Gell-Manns Home Page at SFI TED Talks: Murray Gell-Mann on beauty and truthin physics at TED in 2007

TED Talks: Murray Gell-Mann on the ancestor oflanguage at TED

Murray Gell-Mann Video Interview with theAcademy of Achievement in 1990

Murray Gell-Mann talks quarks (Video) Murray Gell-Mann at the Mathematics GenealogyProject

59 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses9.1 Text

Murray Gell-Mann Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann?oldid=666724801 Contributors: The Cunctator, Mav, Seb,XJaM, Rsabbatini, Dante Alighieri, Mic, Looxix~enwiki, Ahoerstemeier, RodC, Phr, Maximus Rex, SHeumann, Bevo, Joseaperez,Drxenocide, Fredrik, Timrollpickering, Andrew Levine, Bkell, JesseW, Wikibot, Giftlite, Harp, Mintleaf~enwiki, Marcika, Xerxes314,Curps, Duncharris, Henryhartley, Beardo, Jason Quinn, Edrex, Neilc, Danko Georgiev, Antandrus, Beland, Joi, PDH, Balcer, Hyperneu-ral, Tomruen, Lumidek, Hkpawn~enwiki, Tsemii, Klemen Kocjancic, Calwatch, Chris Howard, D6, Jayjg, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot,Pjacobi, Aris Katsaris, Srbauer, Kwamikagami, Orlady, Tgeller, Bobo192, Mike Schwartz, Duk, Viriditas, MITalum, CoolGuy, Mdd, Ahru-man, Sligocki, A Kit, Snowolf, Ksnow, Dirac1933, Papovik, , Ghirlandajo, TheCoee, April Arcus, Tintin1107, Etacar11, BillC,Mat813, Emerson7, Behack, Terryn3, Kbdank71, Angusmclellan, Koavf, Sorenr, Lockley, MZMcBride, SpNeo, Brighterorange, AmelioVzquez, FlaBot, Wikiliki, Mujib, DannyWilde, Gurch, Srleer, OpenToppedBus, Valentinian, Mstroeck, Chobot, YurikBot, Texas-Android, Bambaiah, Dnik, RussBot, Hwasungmars, GhostInTheShell, Mccready, Irishguy, DYLAN LENNON~enwiki, E2mb0t~enwiki,Nick123, 2over0, Arthur Rubin, Curpsbot-unicodify, Garion96, Johnpseudo, MagneticFlux, Qero, Schizobullet, SmackBot, Davepape,Roger Hui, CRKingston, Eskimbot, Ogdred, Chris the speller, RDBrown, EncMstr, Hibernian, Kevin Ryde, TheLeopard, Josteinn, VikSol,Newport, Pgoerner, Khukri, G716, Andrei Stroe, John, Ergative rlt, NYCJosh, Syrcatbot, MarcAurel, ThePI, Norm mit, Shaneq, Alber-tod4, KyleGardiner, Ale jrb, Andrew Delong, Myasuda, MaxEnt, Cydebot, Island Dave, Hebrides, MWaller, JodyB, Thijs!bot, Headbomb,JustAGal, Bunzil, CharlotteWebb, Glj1952, Escarbot, AntiVandalBot, RobotG, Kramden4700, Jrw@pobox.com, Deective, MatthewFennell, Xeno, Connormah, VoABot II, Newyears, Duendeverde, Gwern, Greg Salter, Arjun01, CommonsDelinker, FANSTARbot, Bon-gomatic, SureFire, SuperGirl, Vanished user 342562, Stan J Klimas, SimulacrumDP, DadaNeem, Master shepherd, Jamesontai, This-mightbezach, Cuzkatzimhut, VolkovBot, Rvilbig, Aesopos, TXiKiBoT, EvanCarroll, Anonymous Dissident, GcSwRhIc, Starnold, Jhs-Bot, Broadbot, Gilisa, CoolKid1993, MCTales, Spinningspark, Alcmaeonid, Resurgent insurgent, Ponyo, SieBot, D2lraXBlZGlh, Nathan,WRK, Likebox, Belinrahs, Lightmouse, LarRan, RS1900, Tyfrazier, ClueBot, Binksternet, All Hallows Wraith, Dave.bradi, MikeVi-tale, Joao Xavier, Masterpiece2000, Alexbot, Terra Xin, Ammar.sajdi, Cardinalem, RogDel, MessinaRagazza, SilvonenBot, Good Ol-factory, Kbdankbot, RandomTool2, Addbot, Kamuichikap, Numbo3-bot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, NLWASTI, TheWindyCity, Joan kingston,KamikazeBot, AnomieBOT, Adeliine, Ulric1313, Citation bot, Happyhuman, Davshul, RibotBOT, Mnmngb, Preobrazhenskiy, Ironboy11,Haeinous, DivineAlpha, Skyerise, A8UDI, Badger M., ItsZippy, Vrenator, OKleavemealonealready, Updatehelper, EmausBot, ZroBot,Lemeza Kosugi, Suslindisambiguator, Fitzrovia calling, JeanneMish, Orange Suede Sofa, ClueBot NG, FSchlaghecken, LJosil, Helpful PixieBot, Aaaeditor, Bibcode Bot, Allecher, Contact '97, MrBill3, Chucktesta, Brad7777, Tutelary, JoshuSasori, Ninmacer20, VIAFbot, IB-hanap, DavidPKendal, Aloneinthewild, Arabba, Bibliophilen, Rkyuen, Jonarnold1985, NilubonT, Jerodlycett, KasparBot and Anonymous:174

9.2 Images File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original

artist: ? File:Murray_Gell-Mann_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2012.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/

commons/2/2c/Murray_Gell-Mann_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2012.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors:Flickr: Murray Gell-Mann - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 Original artist: World Economic Forum

File:Nobel_Prize.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Nobel_Prize.png License: ? Contributors:Derivative of File:NobelPrize.JPG Original artist:Photograph: JonathunderMedal: Erik Lindberg (1873-1966)

File:Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Created by bdesham with Inkscape; based upon Text-x-generic.svgfrom the Tango project. Original artist: Benjamin D. Esham (bdesham)

File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domainContributors: ? Original artist: ?

9.3 Content license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Early life and educationPhysics careerPersonal lifeAwards and honorsSee alsoNotesFurther readingExternal linksText and image sources, contributors, and licensesTextImagesContent license