Tait Institute of Math Phys

Peter Guthrie Tait1831 – 1901Chair of Natural

Philosophy at EdinburghHamilton's QuaternionsTheory of Knots with

Maxwell & Thomson Trajectory of Golf Balls

Max Born (1882-1970)Nobel Prize 1954:

Statistical interpretation of

quantum theoryTait Professor at

Edinburgh UniversityUnfortunate Scandal:

Implicated in the Klaus Füchs

spying case; Füchs was an associate of Born in EdinburghBorn was totally exonerated according to his secretary

Ray Chester who still lives in Pennicuik outside Edinb.

Nicholas Kemmer (1911-1998)Tait Professor of

Mathematical Physics at Edinburgh

ETH (Zurich): An associate of Wolfgang Pauli

Kemmer Equations: Pions (Yukawa)

Helped me enormously in my effort to come to UK to do scientific research.

Wolfgang Pauli (1898-1988)Nobel Prize 1945

Exclusion PrincipleKemmer made interesting

comments 137 bus in London had a

special significanceErdeli – Maths Professor in

Edinburgh had a tremendous capacity for mental computing (like Indian Mathematician Ramanujan an associate of Hardy)

Peter Higgs

Gauge Theory of Broken Symmetries

Higgs Boson(s)60s: Reader at Tait

Institute of Math. PhysicsGave our Quantum Field

Theory LecturesNow: Emeritus Professor at

Edinburgh

Academics at Tait Institute in 60sLecturers:

David Candlin (Computer liason with RHEL)Lance Vick Trevor Priest (now Senior Lecturer Exeter Univ)Peter Osborne (now retired)Ken Bowler (now Professor)

Research Fellows:Mladen Martinis (now Professor at Zagrev)Razmi (Pakistan)......

Research Students

Diploma in theTheory of Elementary Particle:Ananda Amatya (Nepal) (Ph. D)Klaus Büchner (Germany, now Prof. at Munich)Geoffrey Henderson (Northern Ireland) (Ph. D)Irshadullah Khan (Pakistan) (Ph. D)Melvin Roberts (Wales)Norman White (Scotland) (Ph. D)

Continuing Students:Alan Richie.........

Research Students

Hans Grimmer (now Professor at Zurich)Alasdair Broadfoot (now at Napier Univ)Dikran Tcharakian (Armenian)David Wallace (Tait Professor; now Vice-

Chancellor at Leicester University)Alexander Newlands (research under Prof.

Euan Squires of Durham University)Komy ? (Egypt) ......

Research Interests

Symmetry Groups for ParticlesLie Algebra, Unitary groups

Quantum Field TheorySpontaneous break down of symmetries

S-Matrix Theory Complex angular momentum, Regge Poles

Phase Analysis of Hadron Interactions Dispersion Relations & Current Algebras

Sophus Lie (1842-1899)

Lie GroupsContinuous groups of

transformations (symmetry groups)

Howard Georgi, "Lie Algebras in Particle Physics", Second Edition, 1999

Sophus Class Library for Solving PDEs (Partial Differential Equations)

Paul Dirac (1902-1984)

Nobel Prize 1933Anti-particles

Saw him in 1967 at Cambridge

Dirac EquationPositron

Stephen Hawkins

Was Introduced to Stephen By Bruno Renner at Cambridge in 1967

I owe much to Bruno for helping me in my research in Particle Physics. Sadly Bruno died in a climbing accident in 1973

Hans Bethe (1906-)

Nobel Prize 1967Nuclear energy in

starsAttended his

lecture in 1969 at ICTP, Trieste

Murray Gell-Mann (1929-)

Nobel Prize 1969Classification of Particles and

their interactionsAttended his seminar in 1967

at ICTP, TriesteSU(3) matrices

Quarks

Sheldon Glashow (1932-)Nobel Prize 1979

Unified theory of Weak and Electromagnetic interactions of elementary particles

Attended Lectures by him (and Sidney Coleman) at Erice 1966 Summer School

SU(2)xU(1)QCD

Abdus Salam (1926-1996)Nobel Prize 1979

Unified theory of Weak and Electromagnetic interactions of elementary particles

Met in ICTP Trieste in 1967 & 1969

Helped me to return to Europe. (I held a three month long visiting research fellowship at ICTP in 1969)

Stephen Weinberg (1933-)Nobel Prize 1979

Unified theory of Weak and Electromagnetic interactions of elementary particles

Attended a seminar by him at ICTP, Trieste, 1967

Peter Higgs rated his research papers very highly