John Wheeler

John Wheeler passed away yesterday morning, at the grand old age of 96.  His work on nuclear fission, black holes, and relativity will be commented on by others, I’m sure, and I’ll leave that to physicists.  I pulled this quote from the NYTimes obituary because I liked it, and it’s consistent with the discriptions I’ve heard of his character from his colleagues and students:

Dr. Wheeler described his own view of his role to an interviewer 25 years ago.

“If there’s one thing in physics I feel more responsible for than any other, it’s this perception of how everything fits together,” he said. “I like to think of myself as having a sense of judgment. I’m willing to go anywhere, talk to anybody, ask any question that will make headway.

“I confess to being an optimist about things, especially about someday being able to understand how things are put together. So many young people are forced to specialize in one line or another that a young person can’t afford to try and cover this waterfront — only an old fogy who can afford to make a fool of himself.

“If I don’t, who will?”

Image description:  mugshot of John Wheeler standing in front of a chalkboard that has two graphs on it, and several numbers and mathematical symbols written on it.

Image courtesy of New York Times.  (Hat tip to Clifford.)

–IP