Bruce Winstein (September 25, 1943,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

– February 28, 2011) was an

experimental physicist Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...

and

cosmologist Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

noted for his early work in elementary particle physics, particularly work toward demonstrating a serious asymmetry between particles and their anti-particles (

CP violation In particle physics, CP violation is a violation of CP-symmetry (or charge conjugation parity symmetry): the combination of C-symmetry (charge symmetry) and P-symmetry ( parity symmetry). CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics should be the ...

). Later in his career, he worked in experimental cosmology, measuring polarization in the

microwave background radiation In Big Bang cosmology the cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR) is electromagnetic radiation that is a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic background radiation filling all spac ...

whose properties date back to the early universe.

Career

After a distinguished early career in experimental

elementary particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and b ...

, Winstein spent a year in Princeton as a Guggenheim Fellow, studying

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

in general and the

in particular. He then returned to his position as the Samuel K. Alison Distinguished Service Professor in Physics at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he founded its NSF Physics Frontier Center for Cosmological Physics. In 1999, he was leader of

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been operat ...

's KTeV experiment, which produced the first definitive evidence for direct

, an important proof that matter and

anti-matter In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioacti ...

are not perfect twins. He was also leader of the

QUIET Quiet may refer to: * Silence, a relative or total lack of sound In music * The Quiett (born 1985), South Korean rapper * ''Quiet'' (album), a 1996 John Scofield album * "Quiet", a song by Lights, from her album '' The Listening'' (2009) * "Qui ...

experiment, a multi-year international collaboration that sought to detect

gravity waves In fluid dynamics, gravity waves are waves generated in a fluid medium or at the interface between two media when the force of gravity or buoyancy tries to restore equilibrium. An example of such an interface is that between the atmosphere ...

in the early universe by measuring polarization in the microwave background radiation. He received his B.S. degree in Physics and Math from UCLA and his Ph.D. in 1970 from Caltech. Winstein was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

since 1999 and in 2003 became a

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) is an honor accorded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to distinguished persons who are members of the Association. Fellows are elected ...

. Winstein was inducted into the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1995 and into the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 2007. Also in 2007, he was awarded the W.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics by the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

Honors

Winstein was a member of both the

and the

. In 2007, the American Physical Society awarded him its W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics, with the following citation: "For leadership in the series of experiments that resulted in a multitude of precision measurements of properties of neutral

K meson KAON (Karlsruhe ontology) is an ontology infrastructure developed by the University of Karlsruhe and the Research Center for Information Technologies in Karlsruhe. Its first incarnation was developed in 2002 and supported an enhanced version of ...

s, most notably the discovery of direct CP violation."

References

External links

Guide to the Bruce Winstein Film Poster Collection 1954-1982
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research CenterGuide to the Bruce Winstein Papers 1960-2010
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winstein, Bruce 1943 births 2011 deaths American cosmologists 20th-century American physicists University of California, Los Angeles alumni California Institute of Technology alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Winners of the Panofsky Prize Scientists from Los Angeles Fellows of the American Physical Society