Leonard Susskind
| Leonard Susskind | |
|---|---|
Leonard Susskind
|
|
| Born | 1940 (age 77) South Bronx, New York City, US |
| Residence | United States |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Physics, mathematics |
| Institutions |
Yeshiva University Tel Aviv University Stanford University Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics Korea Institute for Advanced Study Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics |
| Alma mater |
City College of New York Cornell University |
| Thesis | Quantum mechanical approach to strong interactions (1965) |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter A. Carruthers |
| Known for |
Holographic principle String theory String theory landscape Color confinement Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory |
| Notable awards |
Pomeranchuk Prize (2008) American Institute of Physics' Science Writing Award Sakurai Prize (1998) Boris Pregel Award, New York Academy of Sciences (1975) |
Leonard Susskind (born 1940) is an American physicist, who is professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. His research interests include string theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics and quantum cosmology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the US, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an associate member of the faculty of Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and a distinguished professor of the Korea Institute for Advanced Study.
Susskind is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory, having, with Yoichiro Nambu and Holger Bech Nielsen, independently introduced the idea that particles could in fact be states of excitation of a relativistic string. He was the first to give a precise string-theory interpretation of the holographic principle in 1995 and the first to introduce the idea of the string theory landscape in 2003.
Susskind was awarded the 1998 J. J. Sakurai Prize.
Leonard Susskind was born to a Jewish family from the South Bronx section of New York City, he now resides in Palo Alto, California. He began working as a plumber at the age of 16, taking over from his father who had become ill. Later, he enrolled in the City College of New York as an engineering student, graduating with a B.S. in physics in 1962. In an interview in the Los Angeles Times, Susskind recalls the moment he discussed with his father this change in career path: "When I told my father I wanted to be a physicist, he said: ‘Hell no, you ain’t going to work in a drug store.’ I said, "No. Not a pharmacist." I said, ‘Like Einstein.’ He poked me in the chest with a piece of plumbing pipe. ‘You ain’t going to be no engineer’, he said. ‘You’re going to be Einstein.’" Susskind then studied at Cornell University under Peter A. Carruthers where he earned his Ph.D. in 1965. He has been married twice, first in 1960, and has four children.
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