Robert Marshak
Dr. Robert Eugene Marshak | |
|---|---|
 Marshak in 1939 with a glass of radiosodium he has been drinking from during aradioactive tracerexperiment | |
| 8thPresident of City College of New York | |
| In office 1970–1979 | |
| Preceded by | Buell G. Gallagher |
| Succeeded by | Bernard W. Harleston |
| President of theAmerican Physical Society | |
| In office 1983–1983 | |
| Preceded by | Maurice Goldhaber |
| Succeeded by | Mildred Dresselhaus |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 11, 1916 |
| Died | December 23, 1992(aged 76) |
| Education | Columbia University(BA) Cornell University(PhD) |
Robert Eugene Marshak(October 11, 1916 – December 23, 1992) was an Americanphysicist,educator,and eighth president of theCity College of New York.
Biography[edit]
Marshak was born in theBronx,New York City.His parents, Harry and Rose Marshak, were immigrants fromMinsk.He went to theCity College of New Yorkfor one semester and then "received a Pulitzer Scholarship which provided full tuition and a stipend which allowed him to continue his education atColumbia University."[1][2]
In 1939, Marshak received hisPh.D.fromCornell University.Along with his thesis advisor,Hans Bethe,he discovered many of the fusion aspects involved in star formation. This helped him on his work for theManhattan Project,inLos Alamos,duringWorld War II.[1]During this time, he developed an explanation of how shock waves work in extremely high temperatures achieved by a nuclear explosion, and these waves are known as Marshak waves.[3]
Following the war, Marshak joined theUniversity of RochesterDepartment of Physics, becoming head of the department in 1950.[4]
In 1947, at theShelter Island Conference,Marshak presented his two-meson hypothesis about thepi-meson,which were discovered shortly thereafter.[5]Three years later, Marshak established the Rochester Conference while chair of the University of Rochester's physics department. This later became known as theInternational Conference on High Energy Physics.[1]
In 1957, Marshak andGeorge Sudarshanproposed a V-A ( "vector" minus "axial vector" )Lagrangianfor weak interactions, which eventually paved the way for the electroweak theory. This theory was later presented byRichard FeynmanandMurray Gell-Mann,which later contributed to each winning a Nobel Prize in Physics. Sudarshan stated that Gell-Mann had learned the theory from him at theRochester Conference.[6]Similarly,Richard Feynmanlearned about the theory from a discussion with Marshak in a conference. Feynman acknowledged Marshak and Sudarshan's contribution in 1963 stating that the V-A theory was discovered by Sudarshan and Marshak and publicized by Gell-Mann and himself.[7]
Marshak was elected to theNational Academy of Sciencesin 1958, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesin 1961, and theAmerican Philosophical Societyin 1983.[8][9][10]
In 1970, Marshak left Rochester to become president of theCity College of New York.[11]He left to become university distinguished professor at Virginia Tech, retiring in 1991.[1]
Marshak shared the 1982J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial PrizewithMaurice Goldhaber.[12]The next year he served as the president of theAmerican Physical Society,previously having served on its council (1965-1969), as chairman of its Division of Particles and Fields (1969-1970), and as vice-president.[13]
Marshak died by accidental drowning inCancún,Mexico.[1]In addition to Sudarshan, his doctoral students includeSusumu Okubo[citation needed],Rabindra MohapatraandTullio Regge.[14]
Selected works[edit]
- Marshak, Robert E. (1952).Meson Physics.New York:McGraw-Hill.OCLC459312979
- Marshak, Robert E.; Radha, T.K.; Raman, K. (1963?)Theory of Weak Interactions of Elementary Particles.Matscience report no. 10. Madras:Institute of Mathematical Sciences.OCLC474785
- Marshak, Robert E.; Blaker, J. Warren;Bethe, Hans A.;et al. (1966).Perspectivies in Modern Physics: Essays in Honor of Hans A. Bethe on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday, July 1966.New York: Interscience Publishers.OCLC418981
- Marshak, Robert E.;Riazuddin;Ryan, Ciaran P. (1969).Theory of Weak Interactions in Particle Physics.New York:Wiley-Interscience.OCLC977600031
- Marshak, Robert E.; Wurtemburg, Gladys (1982).Academic Renewal in the 1970s: Memoirs of a City College President.Washington, D.C.:University Press of America.ISBN0819127795,9780819127792,0819127809,9780819127808OCLC8763508
- Marshak, Robert E. (1993).Conceptual Foundations of Modern Particle Physics.Singapore:World Scientific.ISBN9810210981,9789810210984,9810211066,9789810211066OCLC925757241
Notes[edit]
- ^abcdeCollections, Special."Robert E. Marshak: A Brief Biography".Special Collections.Virginia Tech. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-05-21.Retrieved4 August2014.
- ^Columbia College (Columbia University). Office of Alumni Affairs and Development; Columbia College (Columbia University) (1959).Columbia College today.Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y.: Columbia College, Office of Alumni Affairs and Development.
- ^"Robert Marshak".Atomic Heritage Foundation.Retrieved2020-11-06.
- ^Henley, Ernest M.; Lustig, Harry (1999).Robert Eugene Marshak, 1916-1992(PDF).Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. p. 7.
- ^Mehra, Jagdish (1994).The Beat of a Different Drum: The life and science of Richard Feynman.Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. pp. 245–249.ISBN978-0-19-853948-3.
- ^"ECG Sudarshan Missed Out on Physics Nobel Despite Several Nominations. It Was the Prize's Loss".News18.2018-05-14.Retrieved2020-11-06.
- ^Mehra, p. 477.
- ^"Robert E. Marshak".www.nasonline.org.Retrieved2022-05-25.
- ^"Robert Eugene Marshak".American Academy of Arts & Sciences.Retrieved2022-05-25.
- ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.Retrieved2022-05-25.
- ^Daniels, Lee A. (25 December 1992)."Robert E. Marshak, 76, Ex-Head of City College".New York Times.
- ^"Oppenheimer Prize awarded to Goldhaber and Marshak".Physics Today.35(9): 89. September 1982.Bibcode:1982PhT....35i..89..doi:10.1063/1.2915276.
- ^Henley and Lustig, p. 18.
- ^Robert Marshakat theMathematics Genealogy Project
Resources[edit]
- Henley, Ernest M.;Lustig, Harry(1999).Robert Eugene Marshak, 1916-1992.Washington, D.C.:National Academies Press.OCLC681760054
- Sudarshan, E.C.G.;et al. (1995).A Gift of Prophecy: Essays in Celebration of the Life of Robert Eugene Marshak.Singapore: World Scientific, 1995.ISBN9789812831408,9812831401OCLC854972413
External links[edit]
- Robert E. Marshak Papers, Ms1988-060atVirginia TechSpecial Collections and University Archives
- Robert Eugene Marshak Collectionat theCity College of New York
- Biographical Memoirat theNational Academy of Sciences
- Robert Eugene Marshakat theMathematics Genealogy Project
- Robert Marshak Oral History Interviewsfrom theAmerican Institute of Physics
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1916 births
- 1992 deaths
- Cornell University alumni
- Deaths by drowning
- 20th-century American physicists
- Columbia College (New York) alumni
- Presidents of City College of New York
- American particle physicists
- Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
- Accidental deaths in Mexico
- American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent
- Jewish American scientists
- Scientists from the Bronx
- Manhattan Project people
- Virginia Tech faculty
- 20th-century American Jews
- Members of the American Philosophical Society
- Members of the National Academy of Medicine
- 20th-century American academics
- Presidents of the American Physical Society