Leonard Susskind

Born	1940[1] New York City, New York
Residence	USA
Nationality	American
Field	Physics
Institutions	Yeshiva University University of Tel Aviv Stanford University
Alma mater	City College of New York Cornell University
Academic advisor	Peter A. Carruthers
Known for	String theory Quark confinement Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory
Notable prizes	Sakurai Prize (1998)
Religion	Atheist[2]

Leonard Susskind (born 1940^[1]) is the Felix Bloch professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University in the field of string theory and quantum field theory. Susskind is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory for his early contributions to the String Theory model of particle physics.^[3] Download high resolution version (1280x960, 115 KB)Leonard Susskind at Stanford University File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... NY redirects here. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density Physics (Greek: (phúsis), nature and (phusiké), knowledge of nature) is the branch of science concerned with the discovery and characterization of universal laws which govern matter, energy, space, and time. ... Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City whose first component was founded in 1886. ... Tel-Aviv University (TAU, אוניברסיטת תל-אביב) is one of Israels major universities. ... Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco and approximately 20 miles northwest of San José in Stanford, California. ... The City College of The City University of New York (known more commonly as City College of New York or simply City College, CCNY, or colloquially as City) is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. ... Cornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar. ... Interaction in the subatomic world: world lines of pointlike particles in the Standard Model or a world sheet swept up by closed strings in string theory String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects called strings, rather than the zero-dimensional point... Colour confinement (often just confinement) is the physics phenomenon that color charged particles (such as quarks) cannot be isolated. ... Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory is a calculational approach to gauge theory and a special case of lattice gauge theory in which the space is discretized but time is not. ... The J. J. Sakurai Prize is a prize in theoretical particle physics whose purpose is to recognize oustanding work. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... Theoretical physics employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics, as opposed to experimental processes, in an attempt to understand nature. ... Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco and approximately 20 miles northwest of San José in Stanford, California. ... Interaction in the subatomic world: world lines of pointlike particles in the Standard Model or a world sheet swept up by closed strings in string theory String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects called strings, rather than the zero-dimensional point... Quantum field theory (QFT) is the quantum theory of fields. ...

Background

Susskind was born in New York City and now resides in Palo Alto, California. He began working as a plumber at the age of thirteen. Later, he enrolled in the City College of New York as an engineering student. He has been married twice, originally in 1960, ^[4] and has four children. Josh Susskind, Doctoral student in Cognitive Sciences; Jenny Susskind, Recent graduate in Urban Planning, with a special interest in housing rights; Dr. Lana Susskind-Wilder Clinical Neuropsychologist; and Yve Susskind,Ph.D., advocate of youth empowerment. Susskind successfully graduated with a B.S. in Physics in 1962.^[5] He then went on to get his Ph.D. in 1965 from Cornell University under Peter A. Carruthers. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Downtown Palo Alto Palo Alto is a city in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. Palo Alto is located at the northern end of the Silicon Valley, and is home to Stanford University (which is technically located in an adjacent area — Stanford, California... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... A plumber at work. ... The City College of The City University of New York (known more commonly as City College of New York or simply City College, CCNY, or colloquially as City) is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. ... The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density Physics (Greek: (phúsis), nature and (phusiké), knowledge of nature) is the branch of science concerned with the discovery and characterization of universal laws which govern matter, energy, space, and time. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar. ...

Career

Susskind has been Felix Bloch Professor of Physics at Stanford University since 1979. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded the 1998 Sakurai Prize for theoretical physics. Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco and approximately 20 miles northwest of San José in Stanford, California. ... President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... The House of the Academy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... The J. J. Sakurai Prize is a prize in theoretical particle physics whose purpose is to recognize oustanding work. ...

Susskind is the author of the book, The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design.

He was one of at least three physicists who independently discovered during or around 1970 that the Veneziano dual resonance model of strong interactions could be described by a quantum mechanical model of strings. ^[6] 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Gabriele Veneziano (b. ... In theoretical physics, the term dual resonance models refers to the early investigation (1968-1974 or so) on strong interactions of the subject that is currently known as string theory. ... The strong nuclear force or strong interaction (also called color force or colour force) is a fundamental force of nature which affects only quarks and antiquarks, and is mediated by gluons in a similar fashion to how the electromagnetic force is mediated by photons. ...

An entire course on quantum physics by Susskind can be downloaded on the itunes platform from "Stanford on Itunes".[6] This article is about about the iTunes application. ...

Contributions

Susskind's contributions to physics include:

• The independent discovery of the string theory model of particle physics.
• The theory of quark confinement
• The development of Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory
• The theory of scaling violations in deep inelastic electroproduction
• The theory of symmetry breaking sometimes known as "technicolor theory"^[7]
• The second, yet independent, theories of cosmological baryogenesis. (Sakharov's work was first, but was mostly unknown in the Western hemisphere)
• The string theory of black hole entropy
• The principle of "black hole complementarity"
• The holographic principle^[8]
• The M(atrix) theory
• The introduction of holographic entropy bounds in physical cosmology
• The idea of an anthropic string theory landscape.

Interaction in the subatomic world: world lines of pointlike particles in the Standard Model or a world sheet swept up by closed strings in string theory String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects called strings, rather than the zero-dimensional point... The six flavours of quarks and their most likely decay modes. ... Colour confinement (often just confinement) is the physics phenomenon that color charged particles (such as quarks) cannot be isolated. ... Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory is a calculational approach to gauge theory and a special case of lattice gauge theory in which the space is discretized but time is not. ... Technicolor models are theories beyond the Standard Model (sometimes, but not always, GUTs) which do not have a scalar Higgs field. ... Baryogenesis is the generic designation for the physical processes that generate matter (more specifically, a class of fundamental particle called baryon) from an otherwise matter-empty state (such as it is generally believed to be the state of the Universe at its onset, the so-called Big Bang). ... Andrei Sakharov, 1943 For the historian, see Andrey Nikolayevich Sakharov. ... Simulated view of a black hole in front of the Milky Way. ... The holographic principle is a speculative conjecture about quantum gravity theories, proposed by Gerard t Hooft and improved and promoted by Leonard Susskind, claiming that all of the information contained in a volume of space can be represented by a theory that lives in the boundary of that region. ... Ice melting - classic example of entropy increasing[1] described in 1862 by Rudolf Clausius as an increase in the disgregation of the molecules of the body of ice. ... Physical cosmology, as a branch of astrophysics, is the study of the large-scale structure of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. ... The string theory landscape or anthropic landscape refers to the large number of different false vacua in string theory. ...

See also

• Superstring theory
• String theory
• QCD
• M-theory
• Supersymmetry
• Quantum field theory
• Holographic principle

Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modeling them as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings. ... Interaction in the subatomic world: world lines of pointlike particles in the Standard Model or a world sheet swept up by closed strings in string theory String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects called strings, rather than the zero-dimensional point... The initialism QCD can mean: Quantum chromodynamics Quintessential Player, formerly known as Quintessential CD Quality, Cost, Delivery, A three-letter acronym used in lean manufacturing This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the... M-theory is a solution proposed for the unknown theory of everything which would combine all five superstring theories and 11-dimensional supergravity together. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Quantum field theory (QFT) is the quantum theory of fields. ... The holographic principle is a speculative conjecture about quantum gravity theories, proposed by Gerard t Hooft and improved and promoted by Leonard Susskind, claiming that all of the information contained in a volume of space can be represented by a theory that lives in the boundary of that region. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Leonard Susskind

• Stanford University Homepage
• The Edge:
  • "Interview with Leonard Susskind."
  • Susskind and Lee Smolin debate the Anthropic Principle.
• Leonard Susskind's lecture on iTunes U
• Radio Interview from This Week in Science March 14, 2006 Broadcast
• "Father of String Theory Muses on the Megaverse": Podcast.
• Leonard Susskind's page on the Internet Movie Database.

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... Lee Smolin at Harvard. ... This Week in Science (TWIS) is a weekly science radio talk show broadcasting from KDVS 90. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} His 60th birthday was celebrated with a special symposium at Stanford University on May 20-21, 2000.[1]
2. ^ Life in a landscape of possibilities[2]
3. ^ NYAS Publication A Walk Across the Landscape
4. ^ [3]
5. ^ Edge.org Leonard Susskind - A Biography
6. ^ String Theory: The Early Years, John H. Schwarz, 2000
7. ^ Review of Particle Physics, (W.-M. Yao et al., J. Phys. G 33, 1 (2006)) Dynamical Electroweak Symmetry Breaking section cites two 1979 publications, one by Steven Weinberg, the other by L. Susskind to represent the earliest models with technicolor and technifermions.[4]
8. ^ "The insistence on unitarity in the presence of black holes led 't Hooft (1993) and Susskind (1995b) to em­brace a more radical, holographic interpretation of ..." - The Holographic Principle, Raphael Bousso, Rev. Mod. Phys. 74 (2002) 825-874. [5]