Newswise — Washington D.C., October 23, 2014 --The American Physical Society (APS) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced today, on behalf of the Heineman Foundation for Research, Educational, Charitable, and Scientific Purposes, that theoretical physicist Pierre Ramond, director of the Institute for Fundamental Theory at the University of Florida, has won the 2015 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics -- one of the highest honors for scientific investigators in that field.
In recognizing Ramond, the two organizations cited his “pioneering foundational discoveries in supersymmetry and superstring theory, in particular the dual model of fermions and the theory of the Kalb-Ramond field.”
"Since the days of ancient Democritus, philosophers and scientists who pondered what makes up the fundamental building blocks of matter have thought about point-like particles -- first atoms then subatomic particles like electrons or quarks," said H. Frederick Dylla, executive director and CEO of AIP. "But by initiating superstring theory in the early 1970s, Pierre Ramond generalized to all particles the notion that the basic building blocks are not point particles at all, but tiny string-like objects that vibrate to form the particles."
The prize consists of a certificate and a $10,000 award, which will be presented at a special ceremony during the April 2015 APS meeting in Baltimore, Md.
Once an Engineer, Always a Theorist
Ramond’s path to prominence in the field was a bit unconventional -- one he likens to a general who comes up through Officer Candidate School rather than going to West Point. He grew up in Neuilly/Seine, a suburb of Paris, and after graduating high school in 1961, Ramond moved to the United States where his father worked as an engineer, and he attended Newark College of Engineering in New Jersey. Upon graduating with a degree in electrical engineering, he decided to change direction and follow his interest in physics and attended Syracuse University, where he received his PhD in 1969. He did his first postdoc at the National Accelerator Laboratory (NAL), now the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where he wrote what was the 7th theory publication to come out of Fermilab. “Dual Theory for Free Fermions” was published in 1971, and it formed the basis of supersymmetry and superstring theory. He then went on to Yale as an instructor and assistant professor where he continued his work.
According to Ramond, superstrings offer a compelling picture of our universe.
“At its onset (the big bang), stood superstrings, a kind of quantum superviolin whose vibrations generated all elementary constituents of the universe, some of which we know -- quarks, electrons, photons -- and some yet to be discovered,” Ramond said.
The common origins of these elementary constituents that make up the universe link together, through a hypothetical construct called supersymmetry, all the particles from which all the stuff in the universe is made, including the particles that create the forces that bind the stuff together.
"This evocative picture, tightly constrained by mathematics, requires more than three space dimensions and supersymmetry, although there is (so far) no evidence for either,” he added.
Ramond is a fellow of the APS and has received numerous other awards including the Oskar Klein Medal from the Swedish Royal Academy, and has published several seminal papers and books on the subject of mathematical physics including Field Theory, Journeys Beyond the Standard Model, and Group Theory. He lives with his wife Lillian, also an electrical engineer, in Gainesville, Fl. They have three daughters and six grandchildren. When he is not entangled in the mysteries of superstring theory, Ramond plays tennis and is an avid reader of history.
ABOUT PIERRE RAMONDRamond was born in Neuilly/Seine, near Paris, France where he spent most of his childhood. After graduating from high school he came to the United States where his civil engineer father had taken a work assignment. Ramond attended Newark College of Engineering (NCE, now New Jersey Institute of Technology) and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, followed by a PhD in Physics from Syracuse University. He conducted research as a postdoc at NAL, today’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where he wrote his first paper on the subject of string theory that became the foundation of superstring and supersymmetry theory. Ramond is the author of numerous publications and books, and is now distinguished professor of Physics and director of the Institute for Fundamental Theory at the University of Florida.
ABOUT THE HEINEMAN PRIZEAwarded annually, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics was established in 1959 by the Heineman Foundation for Research, Educational, Charitable, and Scientific Purposes, Inc., to recognize outstanding publications in the field of mathematical physics. The Heineman Foundation was founded by Dannie Heineman, an engineer, business executive, and admirer of the accomplishments of physicists and astrophysicists. The prize consists of $10,000, and it is administered jointly by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics. See: http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/heineman.cfm
ABOUT AIPThe American Institute of Physics is a federation of scientific societies in the physical sciences, representing scientists, engineers, and educators. AIP offers authoritative information, services, and expertise in physics education and student programs, science communication, government relations, career services for science and engineering professionals, statistical research in physics employment and education, industrial outreach, and the history of physics and allied fields. AIP publishes Physics Today, the most influential and closely followed magazine of the physics community, and is also home to the Society of Physics Students and the Niels Bohr Library and Archives. AIP owns AIP Publishing LLC, a scholarly publisher in the physical and related sciences. http://www.aip.org
ABOUT APSThe American Physical Society (http://www.aps.org) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy and international activities. APS represents over 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, MD (Headquarters), Ridge, NY, and Washington, DC.
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