John Hartley Brodie (May 6, 1969Birth certificate of John Hartley Brodie: May 6, 1969 at Worcester, Massachusetts, USA – January 28, 2006), was an American theoretical

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

specializing in

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interac ...

. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a psychotic episode in 2002, he left academia in 2004.

Early life and education

Brodie was born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

to the British born

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

biochemists Angela Hartley Brodie and Harry Brodie. His grandfather Herbert Hartley had also been a biochemist. He was raised in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with ...

, where he graduated from

Atholton High School Atholton High School is a high school in Columbia, Maryland, United States and is a part of the Howard County public school system. The school hosts an Army JROTC program. The school mascot is the Raider. History Atholton takes its name from a l ...

. Brodie received

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

and master's degrees in physics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1991 and 1992, respectively. He took one year off to travel the world, mainly in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

, where he developed an interest in

Eastern philosophies Eastern philosophy or Asian philosophy includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philosophy; which are dominant in East Asia, ...

and

religions Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, tran ...

.Obituary
The Washington Post, Feb. 8, 2006 He returned to doctoral studies at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, receiving a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

theoretical physics 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 experim ...

in 1998.

Scientific career, 1998-2004

Brodie accepted post-doctorate offers first at the

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. Departme ...

, and in 2001 at the

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI, Perimeter, PITP) is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor i ...

Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the c ...

, Canada. One of the first postdoctoral researchers at Perimeter institute, Brodie's work was notable for its breadth, ranging from

non-perturbative In mathematics and physics, a non-perturbative function or process is one that cannot be described by perturbation theory. An example is the function : f(x) = e^, which does not have a Taylor series at ''x'' = 0. Every coefficient of the Taylor ...

effects in supersymmetric gauge theories to string theoretic descriptions of quantum Hall fluids and of

inflationary cosmology In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of the universe, expansion of space in the early universe. The inflationary epoch lasted from seconds after the conje ...

.ALUMNI WINS PI'S JOHN BRODIE MEMORIAL AWARD
/ref> During his short career, he published fifteen articles in peer-review journals, many of which have proven to be influential. In 2002, Brodie had a psychotic episode and was diagnosed with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. He tried taking medication, but searched for an alternative to mainstream medicine.

Humanistic life

In 2004, Brodie took a leave of absence from research and publication in disciplinary journals to teach at the Monteverde Friends School in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. Traveling to

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

, he helped construct housing for the poor with

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

. After his ID was stolen in Panama authorities stopped him on a bus and Brodie was held in jail.K. Ceccaross
"The Death of John Brodie"
March 11, 2006. Brattleboro Reformer In September 2005, after hiking much of the Appalachian Trail, he stopped in Brattleboro, Vermont and settled there. In Brattleboro, he worked packing grocery bags at the local Price Chopper supermarket and attended Quaker worship at nearby Putney Friends Meeting.

Personal life and death

Brodie was "a sharp intellect, a free spirit and a gentle person". Friends and family have compared him to the mathematician John Nash. On January 28, 2006, Brodie had been soliciting homes in

Hinsdale, New Hampshire Hinsdale is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,948 at the 2020 census. Hinsdale is home to part of Pisgah State Park in the northeast, and part of Wantastiquet Mountain State Forest in the northwest. Th ...

, that he was running for president. Police responded to a call and confronted him, after which he fled into the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

. His body was found five days later "not far from where he entered the river, about 150 feet from shore".

Eponymous award

The

has been awarding an annual prize in Brodie's memory to celebrate independence and creativity in theoretical research. The first recipient of the John Brodie Prize was the quantum researcher Mohammad H. Ansari in 2006.

References

Rutland Herald story: "A Vt. drowning sets off a story of revelations"
* C. Johnso
"Tell Me Why The Sky Is So Blue Today"
Discover Magazine blog, 15 April 2006

External links

Perimeter Institute website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodie, John H. 1970 births 2006 deaths Atholton High School alumni Cornell University alumni Deaths by drowning in the United States Princeton University alumni Accidental deaths in Vermont Place of birth missing 20th-century American physicists People from Columbia, Maryland