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Murray Gell-Mann - Pierre Ramond, John Schwarz and André Neveu; superstring theory (146/200)

4,762 views · Published 12 May 2016 · 1:17 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2016 · Science & Technology

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New York-born physicist Murray Gell-Mann (1929-2019) was a theoretical physicist. His considerable contributions to physics include the theory of quantum chromodynamics. He was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles. [Listener: Geoffrey West; date recorded: 1997]

TRANSCRIPT: In 1971 John Schwarz and André Neveu, working I think in Princeton, proposed superstring theory which included both bosons and fermions, unlike the Veneziano-type string theory. And also didn't have the negative mass squared particle, scalar particle. It did however have a mass-less spin two particle, which was certainly not anything like what was observed for the hadrons. But I was impressed with that theory. I thought there was something really splendid about it. I was also impressed with Pierre Ramond's work, which had in part paved the way for this superstring proposal, and I invited both of them to Caltech. And Ramond stayed there for a number of years until he left to head a theory group at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, and John is still there with a… a chair in physics.

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