The Physical Jew

[Aliza]

I just Googled Jewish physicists and Muslim physicists in separate windows. The search results are quite a bit different from one another.

[Anomalocaris]

Where do I even start with this guy....

John v. Neumann

One of the most intimidating minds of the 20th century, he kind of knew everything. The architecture of modern computers is called von Neumann architecture for a reason. He's in this thread because he laid the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics, but he was also a leading thinker in game theory. When he heard of the work John Nash got his Nobel prize for, he allegedly wasn't very impressed. He knew that all along, but didn't bother writing it down because it was kind of trivial.

He is also the man who said to the effect of "if you say we will bomb Russia tomorrow, then I ask why not today, if you say we will bomb Russia this afternoon, then I say why not now".

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He played Bongo drums at Strip Clubs in his spare time.

He did PHYSICS RESEARCH in strip clubs.

Physical research involving physics, no chemistry is said to be involved.

[Alex K]

The prize for best weirdly sloped hair in theoretical physics goes to smartest physicist in all of Soviet Union

Lev Landau

His last name probably came from my own home town, the southern palatinate city of Landau - which had a rich and long Jewish tradition until the great synagogue was burnt down and everyone was killed or chased away by you can guess who you can guess when. Lev Landau is known to every student of physics from the seminal series of text books which to me are still a gold standard for their unique mix of physics intuition, conceptual clarity and calculational detail. Landau has worked on many important things, but he got his Nobel for the theory of superfluidity.

The famed Higgs mechanism which is the cornerstone of particle physics (I have mentioned it several times in this very thread), is basically the Landau-Ginzburg theory of phase transitions applied to the universe as a whole instead of a piece of matter.

Ginzburg, of course, was also an eminent Jewish physicist

[Alex K]

I just Googled Jewish physicists and Muslim physicists in separate windows. The search results are quite a bit different from one another.

It's tragic, isn't it? How many Einsteins and Feynmans and Neumanns... have never lived up to their potential because they grew up in a culture that wasn't conducive to scientific genius.

[Alex K]

His mom was Jewish, so

Hans Bethe

totally counts. He co-discovered how stars produce energy.  Not exactly a minor issue, but did a lot of other very important work in quantum physics as well. I have a sad personal anecdote that always reminds me of him, although I never met him. When I was a student in New York (he happened to live in a retirement home upstate at the same time), I was given the task to give a talk about Bethe's ansatz for describing spin waves in matter. While I was preparing the talk, he passed away, so the first half of my talk turned  into a Eulogy.

To honor his unique character, I showed footage of him giving a lecture on quantum mechanics IN HIS RETIREMENT HOME when he was 93, something that I think is one of the greatest things ever. I want to be that guy when I'm old

[Aliza]

His mom was Jewish, so

Hans Bethe

totally counts. He co-discovered how stars produce energy.  Not exactly a minor issue, but did a lot of other very important work in quantum physics as well. I have a sad personal anecdote that always reminds me of him, although I never met him. When I was a student in New York (he happened to live in a retirement home upstate at the same time), I was given the task to give a talk about Bethe's ansatz for describing spin waves in matter. While I was preparing the talk, he passed away, so the first half of my talk turned  into a Eulogy.

To honor his unique character, I showed footage of him giving a lecture on quantum mechanics IN HIS RETIREMENT HOME when he was 93, something that I think is one of the greatest things ever. I want to be that guy when I'm old

That's so sad.

I hope in the future, young people will be clamoring to reference your work with as much admiration.

[Alex K]

That's so sad.

I hope in the future, young people will be clamoring to reference your work with as much admiration.

I doubt that. Maybe I can aspire to be a memorable teacher at least...

[Minimalist]

I just Googled Jewish physicists and Muslim physicists in separate windows. The search results are quite a bit different from one another.

That's because muslim physicists spend too much time studying the impact of stones on the heads of adulterers and apostates.

[Anomalocaris]

You underestimate the power of Islamic physics.  While Jewish physics talks about time slowing down as as some microscopic particle goes faster at astronomical cost in some satanic accelerator machine, Islamic physics had actually sent 1 billion people backwards in time by 1 thousand years, without anyone having to move at all.

[ignoramus]

I know of one Jew who was able to heal the sick by touching them and was able to feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish!

All fully documented and witnessed.
I read about it in a book once.