Famous scientist Steven Weinberg dies aged 88

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Nobel Prize-winning physicist and astronomer Professor Steven Weinberg died on Friday at the age of 88, according to a statement from the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin).

The cause of death has not yet been determined, although according to the Washington post, he had been hospitalized for some time.

Born in 1933 in New York to Jewish immigrants, Weinberg would pursue a historic career in academia. His most famous work was an article he published in 1967 which dealt with the interaction between electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force – two of the four fundamental forces in the universe, which operate as part of a force. unified electroweak.

Entitled simply “A model of leptons”, the article was barely three pages long, published in the academic journal Physical examination letters. However, the impact it has on the field of physics is simply immense, being one of the most cited works ever in the field of high energy physics.

The equation-filled article discussed and theorized concepts and properties that had never been observed before, but which played a key role in the advancement of the field. His predictions were later supported, notably by the discovery of the Higgs boson particle in 2012 at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

This work later won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 along with his fellow scientists Sheldon Glashow and Abdus Salam.

Despite the complexity of his work, Weinberg was also known for trying to make science more accessible. In his 1977 book The first three minutes: a modern view of the origin of the universe, he guided readers through the first few minutes of the universe’s existence – a subject in itself very complex – in an easy-to-understand manner, as noted by Live Science.

But Weinberg was not only known for his scientific fame and achievements. On the contrary, he was also a recognized activist, working as a spokesperson for science. He had spoken in Congress, lectured on the history and philosophy of science, and made waves for taking a stand against guns hidden in UT classrooms.

But Weinberg was also a strong supporter of the State of Israel. This was particularly noted in his 1997 essay, “Zionism and its Adversaries.”

He had also been a strong supporter of anti-Semitism, which he saw as a boycott of Israel.

According to the British daily The Guardian, Weinberg wrote: “I know some will say that these boycotts are directed only against Israel, rather than generally against the Jews.

“But given the history of attacks on Israel and the oppression and aggression of other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, the boycott of Israel indicated a moral blindness for which it is difficult to find an explanation other than anti-Semitism. ”

Weinberg is survived by his wife, UT Austin law professor Louise Weinberg, and their daughter, Elizabeth.

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