1 | Name: | Dr. Frank Wilczek | |
Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | ||
Year Elected: | 2005 | ||
Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
Subdivision: | 106. Physics | ||
Residency: | Resident | ||
Living? : | Living | ||
Birth Date: | 1951 | ||
Frank Wilczek is considered one of the world's most original and productive theoretical physicists. At the age of 21, with David Gross, he developed the theoretical framework for what was to become Quantum Chromodynamics, the theory of the forces that bind quarks and gluons together to form particles such as the proton. It was for this work that he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics. In addition to his technical contributions he has frequently published articles for other physicists explaining the subtleties of complicated theories, as well as numerous articles for the lay person. Dr. Wilczek received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1974 and taught there until 1981 when he moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study from 1989-2000, and since 2000 he has served as the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2014 he was honored with the Award for Essays from the Gravity Research Foundation. |