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Eugene Paul Wigner was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles".
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science · Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician (1902–1995) · mathematician · physicist · university teacher · theoretical physicist · nuclear physicist · also Eugene Paul Wigner, Eugene Wigner, Eugene P. Wigner, Wigner
Born 17 November 1902 · Died 1 January 1995 · Q155790
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“The full meaning of life, the collective meaning of all human desires, is fundamentally a mystery beyond our grasp. As a young man, I chafed at this state of affairs. But by now I have made peace with it. I even feel a certain honor to be associated with such a mystery.”
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Died 1995-01-01.
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“Where in the Schrödinger equation do you put the joy of being alive?”
At the age of 90, he published his memoirs, The Recollections of Eugene P
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To "fill the critical gap caused by the crippling of the FBI, the disabling of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the destruction of crucial government files"
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Wigner married his third wife, Eileen Clare-Patton (Pat) Hamilton (1915–2010), the widow of physicist Donald Ross Hamilton, the dean of the graduate school at Princeton University, who had died in 1972
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Won Wigner Medal (1978).
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The eponymous Wigner Medal in 1978, and the Herzl Prize in 1982
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Awarded Albert Einstein Award (1972).
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Wigner prepared the first edition of Symmetries and Reflections, a collection of philosophical essays, and became more involved in international and political meetings; around this time he became a leader and vocal defen
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Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1970).
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Won National Medal of Science (1969).
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Awarded Josiah Willard Gibbs Lectureship (1968).
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Gave the Josiah Willard Gibbs lecture
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Awarded John von Neumann Prize (1966).
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Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles.
Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics (1963).
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"for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles"
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Won Max Planck Medal (1961).
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Awarded Atoms for Peace Award (1960).
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Published a now classic article on the philosophy of mathematics and of physics, which has become his best-known work outside technical mathematics and physics, "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Na
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Awarded Enrico Fermi Award (1958).
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Awarded Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award (1955).
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Won Franklin Medal (1950).
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The Enrico Fermi award in 1958, the Atoms for Peace Award in 1959, the Max Planck Medal in 1961, the National Medal of Science in 1969, the Albert Einstein Award in 1972, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of
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And returned to Princeton University, although he maintained a consulting role with the facility for many years
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Won Medal for Merit (1946).
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And the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1945
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When the world's first atomic reactor, Chicago Pile One (CP-1) achieved a controlled nuclear chain reaction
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Wigner married his second wife, Mary Annette Wheeler, a professor of physics at Vassar College, who had completed her Ph
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Participated in a meeting with Leó Szilárd and Albert Einstein that resulted in the Einstein–Szilárd letter, which prompted President Franklin D
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We might have had an atomic bomb by the Winter of 1943-1944
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And he brought his parents to the United States
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Leaving Wigner distraught
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Wigner introduced his sister Margit "Manci" Wigner to the physicist Paul Dirac, with whom she remarried
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Is a cornerstone of the mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics
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Princeton University recruited Wigner, along with John von Neumann, and he moved to the United States, where he obtained citizenship in 1937
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Princeton University recruited Wigner for a one-year lectureship, at 7 times the salary that he had been drawing in Europe
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Introduced what is now known as the Wigner D-matrix
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Accepted an offer from Karl Weissenberg at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin
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Studied at Technische Universität Berlin (1920–1925).
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Enrolled at the Technische Hochschule Berlin (now Technische Universität Berlin), where he studied chemical engineering
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Wigner enrolled at the Budapest University of Technical Sciences, known as the Műegyetem
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Studied at Fasori Gimnázium (1919).
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To escape the Béla Kun communist regime, the Wigner family briefly fled to Austria, returning to Hungary after Kun's downfall
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To middle class Jewish parents, Elisabeth Elsa Einhorn and Antal Anton Wigner, a leather tanner
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Born 1902-11-17.
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