Honorary Member
1979 Nobel Prize in Physics for the standard model of elementary particle physics and electroweak theory
Date of admitance: 10/07/2017
The Hon. Dr. Mr. Sheldon Glashow was awarded the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking contributions to the development of the theory that unifies two of nature’s fundamental forces: electromagnetic interaction and the weak force. Among his most notable achievements is the prediction of the weak neutral current, a key concept in the advancement of theoretical and experimental physics.
The Universe is governed by four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak interaction —which accounts for phenomena such as radioactivity and the nuclear processes inside stars— and the strong interaction, responsible for holding protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus. This diversity of forces leads to a fundamental question: if the Universe is a unified system, should these forces not also be different manifestations of a common underlying principle?
In the 19th century, James Clerk Maxwell made the first major breakthrough by demonstrating that electricity and magnetism are two aspects of a single interaction. Following this line of thought, in 1960, the Hon. Dr. Mr. Glashow formulated a theoretical model that integrated Maxwell’s electromagnetism with the weak force described by Enrico Fermi, giving rise to what became known as the electroweak interaction.
Although these two forces differ greatly in appearance, intensity, and range, the theory proposed by the Hon. Dr. Mr. Glashow succeeded in uniting them under a single conceptual framework. One of the key predictions of his model was the existence of the Z boson, an elementary particle whose discovery at CERN in 1973 marked a historic milestone in modern physics, providing experimental validation of his theory.
