Introduction
Julius Erich Wess (December 5, 1934 – August 8, 2007) was an Austrian theoretical physicist noted as the co-inventor of the Wess–Zumino model and Wess–Zumino–Witten model in the field of supersymmetry. He was also a recipient of the Max Planck medal, the Wigner medal, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the Heineman Prize, and of several honorary doctorates.
Life and work
Wess was born in Oberwölz Stadt, a small town in the Austrian state of Styria. He received his Ph.D. in Vienna, where he was a student of Hans Thirring. His Ph.D. examiner was acclaimed quantum mechanics physicist Erwin Schrödinger. After working in the United States he became a professor at the University of Karlsruhe. In later life, Wess was professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. After his retirement he worked at DESY in Hamburg.
Julius Wess died at the age of 72 in Hamburg, following a stroke.
Publications
- Wess, Julius and Bagger, Jonathan (December 1983). Supersymmetry and Supergravity. Princeton Series in Physics. ISBN 0-691-08326-6 / 0-691-08556-0
- Wess, Julius and Bagger, Jonathan (March 1992). Supersymmetry and Supergravity: Revised and Expanded Edition. Princeton Series in Physics. ISBN 0-691-02530-4