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Leslie Lawrence Foldy
Leslie Lawrance Foldy (1919–2001) was a theoretical physicist, who made contributions to condensed matter physics and quantum mechanics. Early life Foldy was born in Sabinov, Czechoslovakia, on October 26, 1919. His parents were of Hungarian origin, and named their son László Földi. In 1920, the family moved to the USA due to the invasions of Czechoslovakia by Hungary around that time, and there he was known as Leslie Foldy. Education His high school education was in Cleveland, Ohio, and at that time he called his middle name "Lawrance", upon noticing he hadn't a middle name while the other students had. While at high school, he picked up an interest in physics. In 1941, Foldy graduated with a B.S. degree in physics from the Case School of Applied Science (now renamed to the ''Case School of Engineering''), his senior thesis was on crystal lattice vibrations. Research He started his PHD in 1945 at the University of California in Berkeley, in J. Robert Oppenheimer's grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theoretical Physicist
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimental tools to probe these phenomena. The advancement of science generally depends on the interplay between experimental studies and theory. In some cases, theoretical physics adheres to standards of mathematical rigour while giving little weight to experiments and observations.There is some debate as to whether or not theoretical physics uses mathematics to build intuition and illustrativeness to extract physical insight (especially when normal experience fails), rather than as a tool in formalizing theories. This links to the question of it using mathematics in a less formally rigorous, and more intuitive or heuristic way than, say, mathematical physics. For example, while developing special relativity, Albert Einstein was concerned with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
