Werner Nahm (; born 21 March 1949) is a German

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 experimen ...

, with the status of professor. He has made contributions to

mathematical physics Mathematical physics refers to the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and t ...

and fundamental theoretical physics.

Life and work

Werner Nahm attended Gymnasium Philippinum Weilburg. After high school he studied from 1966 at the

Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

and the

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, where he earned his diploma in physics in 1970. He received his doctorate in 1972 at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

, his dissertation was titled ''Analytical solution of the statistical bootstrap model'', where he was then to 1975 as a post-doctoral student. From 1976 to 1982 he was a scientist 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 ...

. From 1982 he was a Heisenberg fellow again at the University of Bonn. In 1986 he became associate professor at the University of California, Davis. 1989 to 2002 he was a full professor at the University of Bonn. Since 2002 he is one of three senior professors at the School of Theoretical Physics at the

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...

and since 2007 its director. He is a foreign member of the

Max Planck Institute for Mathematics The Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (german: Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik, MPIM) is a prestigious research institute located in Bonn, Germany. It is named in honor of the German physicist Max Planck and forms part of the Max Planck S ...

in Bonn. In the 1970s he worked with elementary theory, for example, bootstrap models (the subject of his dissertation) and the classification of graded

Lie algebra In mathematics, a Lie algebra (pronounced ) is a vector space \mathfrak g together with an Binary operation, operation called the Lie bracket, an Alternating multilinear map, alternating bilinear map \mathfrak g \times \mathfrak g \rightarrow ...

s, which are important in

supersymmetric In a supersymmetric theory the equations for force and the equations for matter are identical. In theoretical and mathematical physics, any theory with this property has the principle of supersymmetry (SUSY). Dozens of supersymmetric theories ...

theories. After that, he worked mainly on the theory of

magnetic monopole In particle physics, a magnetic monopole is a hypothetical elementary particle that is an isolated magnet with only one magnetic pole (a north pole without a south pole or vice versa). A magnetic monopole would have a net north or south "magneti ...

s, classification of supersymmetric models,

conformal field theories A conformal field theory (CFT) is a quantum field theory that is invariant under conformal transformations. In two dimensions, there is an infinite-dimensional algebra of local conformal transformations, and conformal field theories can sometime ...

and their algebraic classification, and classification of string models. The

Nahm equations In differential geometry and gauge theory, the Nahm equations are a system of ordinary differential equations introduced by Werner Nahm in the context of the ''Nahm transform'' – an alternative to Ward's twistor construction of monopoles. Th ...

(1981) are named after him, used in (for example) for the description of monopoles in Yang–Mills theories, and the

Nahm transform In differential geometry and gauge theory, the Nahm equations are a system of ordinary differential equations introduced by Werner Nahm in the context of the ''Nahm transform'' – an alternative to Ward's twistor construction of monopoles. Th ...

. In 1978 he showed that the maximum dimension of supersymmetric theories was ''d'' = 11. His predicted ''d'' = 11

supergravity In theoretical physics, supergravity (supergravity theory; SUGRA for short) is a modern field theory that combines the principles of supersymmetry and general relativity; this is in contrast to non-gravitational supersymmetric theories such as ...

theory was constructed shortly after by

Eugène Cremmer Eugène Cremmer (7 February 1942, in Paris – 30 October 2019, in Paris) was a French theoretical physicist. He was directeur de recherche at the CNRS working at the École Normale Supérieure. Cremmer was a postdoc at CERN from 1971–72. In 19 ...

Bernard Julia Bernard Julia (born 1952 in Paris) is a French theoretical physicist who has made contributions to the theory of supergravity. He graduated from Université Paris-Sud in 1978, and is directeur de recherche with the CNRS working at the École No ...

and

Joël Scherk Joël Scherk (; 27 May 1946 – 16 May 1980) was a French theoretical physicist who studied string theory and supergravity. Work Scherk studied in Paris at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS). In 1969 he received his diploma (Thèse de troisiè ...

. Since supersymmetric theories are now favoured in the context of Kaluza–Klein theories as candidates for

unified field theories In physics, a unified field theory (UFT) is a type of field theory that allows all that is usually thought of as fundamental forces and elementary particles to be written in terms of a pair of physical and virtual fields. According to the modern ...

of elementary particles (

M theory M-theory is a theory in physics that unifies all consistent versions of superstring theory. Edward Witten first conjectured the existence of such a theory at a string theory conference at the University of Southern California in 1995. Witten's ...

), Nahm also determined the maximum number of eligible space-time dimensions. Nahm also conducted research about the Mayan civilisation and their astronomy, for example, the role of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

(and their phases) in terms of calendar prediction that was important for their planning of wars. In his Mayan research, he also worked with

Linda Schele Linda Schele (October 30, 1942 – April 18, 1998) was an American Mesoamerican archaeologist who was an expert in the field of Maya epigraphy and iconography. She played an invaluable role in the decipherment of much of the Maya hieroglyphs. She ...

and

Nikolai Grube Nikolai Grube is a German epigrapher. He was born in Bonn in 1962.Houston et al 2001, p.486. Grube entered the University of Hamburg in 1982 and graduated in 1985. His doctoral thesis was published at the same university in 1990. After he received ...

and participated in the ongoing decipherment of

Maya hieroglyphs Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

. He also found evidence of

supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

events and the observation of

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

in the Mayan writings. His doctoral and diploma students include , Melanie Becker, Ralph Blumenhagen, Sayipjamal Dulat, Michael Flohr, Andreas Honecker, Ralph Kaufmann, Johannes Kellendonk, Andreas Malmendier, Andreas Recknagel, Daniel Roggenkamp, and

Katrin Wendland Katrin Wendland (born 1970) is a German mathematical physicist who works as a professor at Trinity College Dublin.. Wendland earned a diploma in mathematics from the University of Bonn in 1996, and a PhD in physics from the University of Bonn in ...

in academia, and Holger Eberle, Wolfgang Eholzer, Michael Terhoeven, and Raimund Varnhagen in industry.

Other affiliations

*Member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

*Member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz *Member (Fellow) of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Prizes and awards

*2012 Gothenburg Lise Meitner Prize of TH Chalmers *2013

Max Planck Medal The Max Planck medal is the highest award of the German Physical Society , the world's largest organization of physicists, for extraordinary achievements in theoretical physics. The prize has been awarded annually since 1929, with few exceptions, ...

*2014

Gold Medal in Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Works

* * * * * * *

References

External links

*
"Professor Werner Nahm FRS
Royal Society *
Scientific publications of Werner Nahm
on

INSPIRE-HEP INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of high energy physics (HEP). It is the successor of the Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1970 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahm, Werner 1949 births Living people Theoretical physicists Particle physicists 21st-century German physicists People associated with CERN Fellows of the Royal Society Winners of the Max Planck Medal 20th-century German physicists Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies