Memories of a Theoretical Physicist
A groundbreaking theoretical physicist traces his career, reflecting on the successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities of a life cut short by cancer. The groundbreaking theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski explained the genesis of his memoir this way: “Having only two bodies of knowledge,...
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| Үндсэн зохиолч: | |
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| Формат: | Online |
| Хэл сонгох: | англи |
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The MIT Press
2022
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| Нөхцлүүд: | |
| Онлайн хандалт: | ONIX_20220621_9780262368919_42 |
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Шошго байхгүй, Энэхүү баримтыг шошголох эхний хүн болох!
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| _version_ | 1869516268501991424 |
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| author | Polchinski, Joseph |
| author_browse | Polchinski, Joseph |
| author_facet | Polchinski, Joseph |
| author_sort | Polchinski, Joseph |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | A groundbreaking theoretical physicist traces his career, reflecting on the successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities of a life cut short by cancer. The groundbreaking theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski explained the genesis of his memoir this way: “Having only two bodies of knowledge, myself and physics, I decided to write an autobiography about my development as a theoretical physicist.” In this posthumously published account of his life and work, Polchinski (1954–2018) describes successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities, and the sheer persistence that led to his greatest discoveries. Writing engagingly and accessibly, with the wry humor for which he was known, Polchinski gives theoretical physics a very human face. Polchinski, famous for his contributions to string theory, may have changed the course of modern theoretical physics, but he was a late bloomer—doing most of his important work after the age of forty. His death from brain cancer at sixty-three cut short a career at its peak. Working on the memoir after his diagnosis, using a text-to-speech algorithm because he could no longer read words on a page, he was able to recapitulate his entire career, down to the details of problems he had worked on. For Polchinski, physics went deeper than words. This edition includes photographs from Polchinski's professional and family life, as well as physics explainer boxes, other technical edits, and bibliographic notes by his former student Ahmed Almheiri, a foreword by Andrew Strominger, and an afterword by his wife Dorothy Chun and sons Steven and Daniel. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-84608 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | The MIT Press |
| publisherStr | The MIT Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-846082024-03-26T22:57:57Z Memories of a Theoretical Physicist Polchinski, Joseph Almheiri, Ahmed multiverse theory of everything D-branes string theory black holes theoretical physics Stephen Hawking holographic universe universe string theorist autobiography scientist Joseph Polchinski life of a theoretical physicist thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNB Biography: general::DNBT Biography: science, technology and medicine::DNBT1 Autobiography: science, technology and medicine thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PH Physics::PHV Applied physics::PHVS Cryogenics thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science A groundbreaking theoretical physicist traces his career, reflecting on the successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities of a life cut short by cancer. The groundbreaking theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski explained the genesis of his memoir this way: “Having only two bodies of knowledge, myself and physics, I decided to write an autobiography about my development as a theoretical physicist.” In this posthumously published account of his life and work, Polchinski (1954–2018) describes successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities, and the sheer persistence that led to his greatest discoveries. Writing engagingly and accessibly, with the wry humor for which he was known, Polchinski gives theoretical physics a very human face. Polchinski, famous for his contributions to string theory, may have changed the course of modern theoretical physics, but he was a late bloomer—doing most of his important work after the age of forty. His death from brain cancer at sixty-three cut short a career at its peak. Working on the memoir after his diagnosis, using a text-to-speech algorithm because he could no longer read words on a page, he was able to recapitulate his entire career, down to the details of problems he had worked on. For Polchinski, physics went deeper than words. This edition includes photographs from Polchinski's professional and family life, as well as physics explainer boxes, other technical edits, and bibliographic notes by his former student Ahmed Almheiri, a foreword by Andrew Strominger, and an afterword by his wife Dorothy Chun and sons Steven and Daniel. 2022-06-21T09:08:20Z 2022-06-21T09:08:20Z 2022 book ONIX_20220621_9780262368919_42 9780262368919 9780262543446 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/84608 eng The MIT Press application/octet-stream Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12277.001.0001 The MIT Press The MIT Press 10.7551/mitpress/12277.001.0001 10.7551/mitpress/12277.001.0001 ae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d 9780262368919 9780262543446 The MIT Press 336 Cambridge open access |
| spellingShingle | multiverse theory of everything D-branes string theory black holes theoretical physics Stephen Hawking holographic universe universe string theorist autobiography scientist Joseph Polchinski life of a theoretical physicist thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNB Biography: general::DNBT Biography: science, technology and medicine::DNBT1 Autobiography: science, technology and medicine thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PH Physics::PHV Applied physics::PHVS Cryogenics thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science Polchinski, Joseph Memories of a Theoretical Physicist |
| title | Memories of a Theoretical Physicist |
| title_full | Memories of a Theoretical Physicist |
| title_fullStr | Memories of a Theoretical Physicist |
| title_full_unstemmed | Memories of a Theoretical Physicist |
| title_short | Memories of a Theoretical Physicist |
| title_sort | memories of a theoretical physicist |
| topic | multiverse theory of everything D-branes string theory black holes theoretical physics Stephen Hawking holographic universe universe string theorist autobiography scientist Joseph Polchinski life of a theoretical physicist thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNB Biography: general::DNBT Biography: science, technology and medicine::DNBT1 Autobiography: science, technology and medicine thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PH Physics::PHV Applied physics::PHVS Cryogenics thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science |
| topic_facet | multiverse theory of everything D-branes string theory black holes theoretical physics Stephen Hawking holographic universe universe string theorist autobiography scientist Joseph Polchinski life of a theoretical physicist thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNB Biography: general::DNBT Biography: science, technology and medicine::DNBT1 Autobiography: science, technology and medicine thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PH Physics::PHV Applied physics::PHVS Cryogenics thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science |
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