Frank Anthony Wilczek (; born May 15, 1951)
is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician
and a Nobel laureate. He is currently the
Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
Founding Director of T. D. Lee Institute and
Chief Scientist Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai
Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Distinguished
Origins Professor at Arizona State University
(ASU) and full Professor at Stockholm University.Wilczek,
along with David Gross and H. David Politzer,
was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in
2004 for their discovery of asymptotic freedom
in the theory of the strong interaction. He
is on the Scientific Advisory Board for the
Future of Life Institute.
== Biography ==
Born in Mineola, New York, of Polish and Italian
origin, Wilczek was educated in the public
schools of Queens, attending Martin Van Buren
High School. It was around this time Wilczek's
parents realized that he was exceptional—in
part as a result of Frank Wilczek having been
administered an IQ test. He was raised Catholic
but later "lost faith in conventional religion".
He has been described as an agnostic but tweeted
in 2013 that "pantheist" is "closer to the
mark".He received his Bachelor of Science
in Mathematics and membership in Phi Beta
Kappa at the University of Chicago in 1970,
a Master of Arts in Mathematics at Princeton
University, 1972, and a Ph.D. in physics at
Princeton University in 1974. Wilczek holds
the Herman Feshbach Professorship of Physics
at MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. He
worked at the Institute for Advanced Study
in Princeton and the Institute for Theoretical
Physics at the University of California, Santa
Barbara and was also a visiting professor
at NORDITA.
Wilczek became a foreign member of the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in
2000. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in
2002. Wilczek won the Lilienfeld Prize of
the American Physical Society in 2003. In
the same year he was awarded the Faculty of
Mathematics and Physics Commemorative Medal
from Charles University in Prague. He was
the co-recipient of the 2003 High Energy and
Particle Physics Prize of the European Physical
Society. Wilczek was also the co-recipient
of the 2005 King Faisal International Prize
for Science. On January 25, 2013 Wilczek received
an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of
Science and Technology at Uppsala University,
Sweden.He currently serves on the board for
Society for Science & the Public and is a
co-founding member of the Kosciuszko Foundation
of the Collegium of Eminent Scientists of
Polish Origin and Ancestry.Wilczek was married
to Betsy Devine on July 3, 1973, and together
they have two daughters, Amity (Academic Dean
at Deep Springs College) and Mira (senior
partner at Link Ventures.)
Wilczek said that "the world embodies beautiful
ideas" but "although this may inspire a spiritual
interpretation, it does not require one".Wilczek
has appeared on an episode of Penn & Teller:
Bullshit!, where Penn referred to him as "the
smartest person [they have] ever had on the
show."
In 2014, Wilczek penned a letter, along with
Stephen Hawking and two other scholars, warning
that "Success in creating AI would be the
biggest event in human history. Unfortunately,
it might also be the last, unless we learn
how to avoid the risks." He is a member of
the Scientific Advisory Board for the Future
of Life Institute, an organization that works
to mitigate existential risks facing humanity,
particularly existential risk from advanced
artificial intelligence. He is also a supporter
of the Campaign for the Establishment of a
United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an
organisation which advocates for democratic
reform in the United Nations, and the creation
of a more accountable international political
system.
== Research ==
In 1973, while a graduate student working
with David Gross at Princeton University,
Wilczek discovered asymptotic freedom, which
holds that the closer quarks are to each other,
the less the strong interaction (or color
charge) between them; when quarks are in extreme
proximity, the nuclear force between them
is so weak that they behave almost as free
particles. The theory, which was independently
discovered by H. David Politzer, was important
for the development of quantum chromodynamics.
Wilczek has helped reveal and develop axions,
anyons, asymptotic freedom, the color superconducting
phases of quark matter, and other aspects
of quantum field theory. He has worked on
condensed matter physics, astrophysics, and
particle physics.
In 2012 he proposed the idea of a time crystal.
In 2017, that theory seems to have been proven
correct.
Current research
"Pure" particle physics: connections between
theoretical ideas and observable phenomena;
behavior of matter: phase structure of quark
matter at ultra-high temperature and density;
color superconductivity;
application of particle physics to cosmology;
application of field theory techniques to
condensed matter physics;
quantum theory of black holes.
== Publications ==
=== For lay readers ===
2015 A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s
Deep Design,(448pp), Allen Lane, ISBN 9781846147012
2014 (with Stephen Hawking, Max Tegmark and
Stuart Russell). "Transcending Complacency
on Superintelligent Machines". Huffington
Post.
2008. The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether,
and the Unification of Forces. Basic Books.
ISBN 978-0-465-00321-1.
2007. La musica del vuoto. Roma: Di Renzo
Editore.
2006. Fantastic Realities: 49 Mind Journeys
And a Trip to Stockholm. World Scientific.
ISBN 978-981-256-655-3.
2002, "On the world's numerical recipe (an
ode to physics)," Daedalus 131(1): 142-47.
1989 (with Betsy Devine). Longing for the
Harmonies: Themes and Variations from Modern
Physics. W W Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-30596-8.
=== Technical ===
1988. Geometric Phases in Physics.
1990. Fractional Statistics and Anyon Superconductivity.
== See also ==
Coupling unification
Dark matter
WIMP
Quantum number
Soliton
Fractional statistics
Hall effect
MIT Physics Department
== References ==
== External links ==
Longer biography at Lifeboat Foundation website
Frank Wilczek explains Einstein's massive
contributions to science
Papers in ArXiv
Frank Wilczek discusses his book "The Lightness
of Being" on the 7th Avenue Project Radio
Show
The World's Numerical Recipe
Frank Wilczek on INSPIRE-HEP
Wilczek on anyons and superconductivity
Blog of the Wilczek family's Nobel adventures
Freeman Dyson, "Leaping into the Grand Unknown:
Review of The Lightness of Being," The New
York Review of Books 56(6), April 9, 2009.
ForaTV: The Large Hadron Collider and Unified
Field Theory
A radio interview with Frank Wilczeck Aired
on the Lewis Burke Frumkes Radio Show the
10th of April 2011.
A television interview with Frank Wilczek
on YouTube from February 2011 for Cambridge
University Television
Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation
