Memories of a Theoretical Physicist: A Journey across the Landscape of Strings, Black Holes, and the Multiverse

by Joseph Polchinski, Ahmed Almheiri (Editor), Andrew Strominger (Foreword by)

Overview

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 Ahmad Almheiri, a foreword by Andrew Strominger, and an afterword by his wife Dorothy Chun and sons Steven and Daniel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262543446
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	05/24/2022
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.26(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Joseph Polchinski, a physicist known for his groundbreaking work in string theory, was Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for many years and a permanent member of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. He was a recipient of the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Ahmed Almheiri is a long-termMember at the Institute for Advanced Study and is the recipient of the 2021 New Horizons in Physics Prize from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Andrew Strominger vii
Editor's Note by Ahmed Almheiri xiii
1 Early Years 1
2 Caltech, 1971–1975 15
3 Berkeley, 1975–1980 33
4 SLAC/Stanford, 1980–1982 55
5 Harvard, 1982–1984 67
6 Austin Part 1, 1984–1988 83
7 Austin Part 2, 1988–1992 103
8 D-branes and Orientifolds, 1992–1995 133
9 The CC and the Discretuum, 1996–2000 159
10 After the End of Physics, 2001–2007 187
11 Before the Firewall, 2007–2011 207
12 Firewall Days, 2012–2015 223
13 Epilogue 243
Afterword by Dorothy, Steven, and Daniel Polchinski 245
Acknowledgments 251
Bibliographic Notes 253
Index 299

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Joseph Polchinski was a highly influential theoretical physicist, bold in his thinking. His scientific memoir provides a fascinating account of the challenges he faced to reach the top of his profession and should be read by anyone interested in contemporary developments in fundamental physics.”
—Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study
 
“This deeply personal book is the best available description of the art, passion, and vicissitudes of undertaking fundamental scientific research as conveyed by the most loved and admired theoretical physicist of his generation. Truly inspirational!”
—Fernando Quevedo, Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge