Sam Treiman
Encyclopedia
Sam Bard Treiman was an American theoretical physicist
who produced important research in the fields of cosmic rays, quantum physics, plasma physics and gravity physics. He made major contributions to the understanding of the weak interaction
and he and his students are credited with developing the so-called Standard Model
of elementary particle physics. He was a Professor of physics at Princeton University
, a member of the National Academy of Sciences
and member of the JASON Defense Advisory Group
. He was a student of Enrico Fermi
and John Alexander Simpson
Jr. Treiman published numerous articles on quantum mechanics
, plasmas
, gravity theory, condensed matter
and the history of physics.
. While at the University, Sam met his wife, Joan Little, an educational psychologist. They have three children - Rebecca, Katherine and Thomas.
Sam began teaching at Princeton in the 1952 as an instructor. He spent his entire career at Princeton - associate professor (1958–63), professor (1963–77) and Eugen Higgins Professor of Physics (1977–1998). He served as chair of the physics department (1981–87) and chair of the University Research Board (1988–95). Probably his best known student at Princeton was Steven Weinberg
, recipient of the Nobel Prize
in physics in 1979. Other well known students are Nicola Khuri (1979), Curtis Callan
(1964), and Stephen L. Adler
(1964).
When Fermilab
was set up in 1970, the founder, Robert R. Wilson
, invited Treiman to direct the theory group. Rather than leave Princeton permanently, Treiman took a number of extended leaves of absence, in order to get the group started.
As a member of the National Academy of Sciences
and JASON Defense Advisory Group
, he was a key advisor to the U.S. Government in the fields of plasma physics, physics education and strategic planning. Treiman and his wife were active members of CUSPEA - a program conceived by T.D. Lee
to facilitate the admission of mainland Chinese students to graduate education in the U.S. The couple visited China in 1981, 1982 and 1988 to examine and interview prospective candidates.
A feature of Treiman's work was his ability to devise simple, unambiguous experimental tests for theoretical predictions and phenomena. In addition to his own work, Treiman was widely recognized as a teacher and mentor, supervising more than two dozen graduate students over three decades. His Socratic teaching style enabled his students to gain valuable insights without having been spoon fed the results. Treiman was awarded the Oersted medal by the American Association of Physics Teachers in 1995. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
Sam Treiman died of leukemia
on November 30, 1999.
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
who produced important research in the fields of cosmic rays, quantum physics, plasma physics and gravity physics. He made major contributions to the understanding of the weak interaction
Weak interaction
Weak interaction , is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars...
and he and his students are credited with developing the so-called Standard Model
Standard Model
The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
of elementary particle physics. He was a Professor of physics at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, a member of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and member of the JASON Defense Advisory Group
JASON Defense Advisory Group
JASON is an independent group of scientists which advises the United States government on matters of science and technology. The group was first created as a way to get a younger generation of scientists—that is, not the older Los Alamos and MIT Radiation Laboratory alumni—involved in advising the...
. He was a student of Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
and John Alexander Simpson
John Alexander Simpson
John Alexander Simpson worked as an experimental nuclear, and cosmic ray physicist who was deeply committed to educating the public and political leaders about science and its implications. The year he died, his instruments in space had been sending data back for nearly 40 years...
Jr. Treiman published numerous articles on quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
, plasmas
Plasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...
, gravity theory, condensed matter
Condensed Matter
Condensed matter may refer to several things*Condensed matter physics, the study of the physical properties of condensed phases of matter*European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, a scientific journal published by EDP sciences...
and the history of physics.
Background
Treiman's parents, Abraham and Sarah, were Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe who emigrated to Chicago. Sam had a brother, Oscar, who was six years older. Sam was educated in the Chicago public school system and, after graduating high school in 1942, he entered Northwestern University, electing to study chemical engineering. After two years at Northwestern he joined the Navy, training as a radar repair technician and he spent the last year of the War as a petty officer in the Philippines, doing, in his words "a prodigious amount of reading in the peaceful jungles - novels and science". After the War he went to the University of Chicago, receiving a B.S. (1949) and M.S. (1950), having changed his major to physics. He received an Atomic Energy Commission predoctoral fellowship and in 1952 he was granted a PhD by the University of Chicago. His doctoral thesis dealt with the physics of cosmic rays, and the work was done under the supervision of John Alexander SimpsonJohn Alexander Simpson
John Alexander Simpson worked as an experimental nuclear, and cosmic ray physicist who was deeply committed to educating the public and political leaders about science and its implications. The year he died, his instruments in space had been sending data back for nearly 40 years...
. While at the University, Sam met his wife, Joan Little, an educational psychologist. They have three children - Rebecca, Katherine and Thomas.
Sam began teaching at Princeton in the 1952 as an instructor. He spent his entire career at Princeton - associate professor (1958–63), professor (1963–77) and Eugen Higgins Professor of Physics (1977–1998). He served as chair of the physics department (1981–87) and chair of the University Research Board (1988–95). Probably his best known student at Princeton was Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg is 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 interaction between elementary particles....
, recipient of the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in physics in 1979. Other well known students are Nicola Khuri (1979), Curtis Callan
Curtis Callan
Curtis Callan is a theoretical physicist and a professor at Princeton University. He has conducted research in gauge theory, string theory, instantons, black holes, strong interactions, and many other topics...
(1964), and Stephen L. Adler
Stephen L. Adler
Stephen Louis Adler is an American physicist specializing in elementary particles and field theory.-Biography:Adler was born in New York City. He received an A.B. degree at Harvard University in 1961, where he was a Putnam Fellow, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1964...
(1964).
When Fermilab
Fermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics...
was set up in 1970, the founder, Robert R. Wilson
Robert R. Wilson
Robert Rathbun Wilson was an American physicist who was a group leader of the Manhattan Project, a sculptor, and an architect of Fermi National Laboratory , where he was also the director from 1967–1978....
, invited Treiman to direct the theory group. Rather than leave Princeton permanently, Treiman took a number of extended leaves of absence, in order to get the group started.
As a member of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and JASON Defense Advisory Group
JASON Defense Advisory Group
JASON is an independent group of scientists which advises the United States government on matters of science and technology. The group was first created as a way to get a younger generation of scientists—that is, not the older Los Alamos and MIT Radiation Laboratory alumni—involved in advising the...
, he was a key advisor to the U.S. Government in the fields of plasma physics, physics education and strategic planning. Treiman and his wife were active members of CUSPEA - a program conceived by T.D. Lee
Tsung-Dao Lee
Tsung-Dao Lee is a Chinese born-American physicist, well known for his work on parity violation, the Lee Model, particle physics, relativistic heavy ion physics, nontopological solitons and soliton stars....
to facilitate the admission of mainland Chinese students to graduate education in the U.S. The couple visited China in 1981, 1982 and 1988 to examine and interview prospective candidates.
A feature of Treiman's work was his ability to devise simple, unambiguous experimental tests for theoretical predictions and phenomena. In addition to his own work, Treiman was widely recognized as a teacher and mentor, supervising more than two dozen graduate students over three decades. His Socratic teaching style enabled his students to gain valuable insights without having been spoon fed the results. Treiman was awarded the Oersted medal by the American Association of Physics Teachers in 1995. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
Sam Treiman died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
on November 30, 1999.
Publications of Sam Treiman
- Sam Treiman's publication records in SPIRESSpiresSpires may refer to:* SPIRES, a database for publications in High-Energy Physics* Speyer , a city in Germany* The Spires, a commercial conference centre, operated out of Church House, Belfast by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland...
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hepnames/www?rawcmd=FIND+NAME+sam+TREIMAN&FORMAT=WWW - PhotonicsPhotonicsThe science of photonics includes the generation, emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, detection and sensing of light. The term photonics thereby emphasizes that photons are neither particles nor waves — they are different in that they have both particle...
: Managing Competitiveness in the Information Era, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Applications, Vice Chairman S. Treiman, Board on Physics and AstronomyAstronomyAstronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
(1988)
Major scientific achievements
- 1957 (with J. David Jackson and Henry Wyld) - definitive theory of allowed beta decayBeta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
s, taking into account time and parity violations - 1958 (with Marvin GoldbergerMarvin Leonard GoldbergerMarvin Leonard Goldberger is a theoretical physicist and former president of the California Institute of Technology.-Biography:...
) dispersion relations analysis of pionPionIn particle physics, a pion is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Pions are the lightest mesons and they play an important role in explaining the low-energy properties of the strong nuclear force....
and nucleonNucleonIn physics, a nucleon is a collective name for two particles: the neutron and the proton. These are the two constituents of the atomic nucleus. Until the 1960s, the nucleons were thought to be elementary particles...
beta decay, culminating in the Goldberger-TreimanQCD vacuumThe QCD vacuum is the vacuum state of quantum chromodynamics . It is an example of a non-perturbative vacuum state, characterized by many non-vanishing condensates such as the gluon condensate or the quark condensate...
relationship for the charged pion decay amplitude. This work eventually led to the hypothesis of the partially conserved axial vector current, known as PCACQCD vacuumThe QCD vacuum is the vacuum state of quantum chromodynamics . It is an example of a non-perturbative vacuum state, characterized by many non-vanishing condensates such as the gluon condensate or the quark condensate...
and to a deeper understanding of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry of the strong interactionStrong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
. - 1962 (with C.N. Yang) Treiman-Yang angle test for single pion exchange dominance
- 1966 (with Curtis CallanCurtis CallanCurtis Callan is a theoretical physicist and a professor at Princeton University. He has conducted research in gauge theory, string theory, instantons, black holes, strong interactions, and many other topics...
) derivation of the Callan-Treiman relations for K meson decay. - 1971 (with David GrossDavid GrossDavid Jonathan Gross is an American particle physicist and string theorist. Along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. He is currently the director and holder of the Frederick W...
) scaling in vector gluon exchange theories, coining the term twist for the difference between the dimensionDimensionIn physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
and spinSpin (physics)In quantum mechanics and particle physics, spin is a fundamental characteristic property of elementary particles, composite particles , and atomic nuclei.It is worth noting that the intrinsic property of subatomic particles called spin and discussed in this article, is related in some small ways,...
of an operatorOperator (physics)In physics, an operator is a function acting on the space of physical states. As a resultof its application on a physical state, another physical state is obtained, very often along withsome extra relevant information....
. - 1972 (with Abraham PaisAbraham PaisAbraham Pais was a Dutch-born American physicist and science historian. Pais earned his Ph.D. from University of Utrecht just prior to a Nazi ban on Jewish participation in Dutch universities during World War II...
) deriving the implications of weak neutral currents for inclusive neutrino reactions.
Publications about Sam Treiman
- Abraham Pais, The Genius of Science: a Portrait Gallery of Twentieth Century Physicists, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
(2000) - Paul Hartman, A Memoir to the Physical ReviewPhysical ReviewPhysical Review is an American scientific journal founded in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research and scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Society. The journal is in its third series, and is split in several...
, A History of the First One Hundred Years, American Institute of PhysicsAmerican Institute of PhysicsThe American Institute of Physics promotes science, the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies...
(1994) ISBN 1-56396-282-9 - "Sam Bard Treiman" A biographical memoir for the American Physical SocietyAmerican Physical SocietyThe American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
by Val Fitch (2002). - "Sam Bard Treiman" A biographical memoir for the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
by Steve Adler (2001).