John Dirk Walecka, often quoted as ''J. Dirk Walecka'' (born March 11, 1932) is an American

theoretical A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

and

particle In the Outline of physical science, physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small wikt:local, localized physical body, object which can be described by several physical property, physical or chemical property, chemical ...

physicist. He is a fellow of 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 ...

and the author of numerous textbooks in physics. Walecka is currently the Governor's Distinguished CEBAF Professor of Physics, Emeritus at the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

Life

Walecka studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as an undergraduate, reviving a Bachelor of Arts in 1954, and received his doctorate in 1958 under

Victor Weisskopf Victor Frederick "Viki" Weisskopf (also spelled Viktor; September 19, 1908 – April 22, 2002) was an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He did postdoctoral work with Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, and Niels Boh ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. Walecka moved to

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1959, where he was made Assistant Professor in 1960, upon completing his NSF fellowship, and Professor in 1966. From 1977 to 1982 he was head of the physics faculty and from 1987 he holds the title of Emeritus Professor of Physics. From 1986 to 1992 he was the scientific director of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

. From 1992 he was the Distinguished CEBAF Professor of Physics at the

, where he headed the Nuclear Physics Institute and the Physics Faculty. In 1991 he served as the Distinguished Ship Lecturer at Stanford. Also from 1992 he worked at the

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), commonly called Jefferson Lab or JLab, is a US National Laboratory located in Newport News, Virginia. Its stated mission is "to provide forefront scientific facilities, opportunities and ...

. Walecka is the author of a standard work on quantum mechanical many-body theory with Alexander Fetter and a book on many-body methods in theoretical nuclear physics. He was particularly concerned with electron scattering on nuclei. In 2000 he edited

Felix Bloch Felix Bloch (23 October 1905 – 10 September 1983) was a Swiss-American physicist and Nobel physics laureate who worked mainly in the U.S. He and Edward Mills Purcell were awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics for "their development of ne ...

's lectures on statistical mechanics (World Scientific).

Awards

Walecka has been a fellow of the

since 1971. and was a fellow of the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

from 1958 through 1960, while at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

and then

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. In 1996 Walecka received the

Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics The Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics is an annual prize awarded by the American Physical Society's Division of Nuclear Physics. Established in 1964, and currently consisting of $10,000 and a certificate, the Bonner Prize was founded in memor ...

. for "his preeminent theoretical guidance and inspirational leadership in exploiting electromagnetic and weak probes of the nucleus and for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of the nucleus as a relativistic quantum many-body system." In 2009 he received the

Eugene Feenberg Memorial Medal {{short description, Physics award The Eugene Feenberg Memorial Medal (also Feenberg Award) is a prize for quantum many-body theory named for American physicist Eugene Feenberg. It has been awarded at the ''International Conference on recent progre ...

"for theoretical contributions in electroweak interactions with nuclei, the development of relativistic field theories of the nuclear many-body problem and unparalleled achievements in the education of a generation of young nuclear many-body physicists".

Publications

* ''Theoretical nuclear and subnuclear physics'', Oxford University Press 1996 * with Alexander L. Fetter: ''Quantum theory of many particle systems'', McGraw Hill 1971, Dover 2006 * with Fetter: ''Theoretical mechanics of particles and continua'', McGraw Hill 1980, Dover 2003 * with Fetter: ''Nonlinear Mechanics'', Dover 2006 * ''Introduction to General Relativity'', World Scientific 2007 * ''Introduction to Modern Physics - Theoretical Foundations'', World Scientific 2008 * ''Electron scattering for nuclei and nucleon structure'', Cambridge University Press 2001 * * ''Advanced Modern Physics'', World Scientific Publishing, 2010 * ''Topics in Modern Physics: Theoretical Foundations'', World Scientific Publishing, 2013 * ''Introduction to Electricity and Magnetism'', World Scientific Publishing, 2018 *''Introduction to Classical Mechanics'', World Scientific Publishing, 2020 *''Introduction to Quantum Mechanics'', World Scientific Publishing, 2021

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walecka, John Dirk Stanford University faculty College of William & Mary faculty Harvard College alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni 1932 births Living people Theoretical physicists American nuclear physicists Particle physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society American textbook writers People associated with CERN Accelerator physicists

Life

Awards

Publications

References

Further reading

External links