William E. Caswell (June 22, 1947 – September 11, 2001) was a physicist from Silver Spring, Maryland whose pioneering work in the days of FORTRAN and punch cards demonstrated the potential of computer algebra and made major contributions to quantum gauge field theories. He died during the September 11 attacks, as a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into The Pentagon.
Contents |
Caswell received his undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Maryland and later did graduate work at Princeton University, then a hotbed of research into gauge symmetry and renormalization group ideas. (Caswell's grad school officemate Frank Wilczek shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics with his thesis advisor David J. Gross and with H. David Politzer, for work done during this time.)
With his thesis advisor Curtis Callan, Caswell embarked on an ambitious program for the summation of Feynman loops in order to calculate elementary particle properties. His thesis, published in 1974, was groundbreaking work that encouraged and shaped future research. To quote his obituary in Physics Today: "Today the interpretation of many experiments in high-energy physics requires multiloop quantum chromodynamics calculations, and Bill's result is a prime ingredient in every such calculation. It is also a critical ingredient in calculating the running of the coupling constants of the Standard Model's supersymmetric extensions, calculations that are interpreted these days as evidence for both grand unification and low-energy supersymmetry. Thus Bill's work is also crucial to our thinking about physics beyond the Standard Model."[1]
After receiving his PhD from Princeton in 1975, Caswell did further significant work to develop new and powerful tools for dealing with bound states such as positronium and charmonium.
In 1983, Caswell left academic work for the Naval Surface Weapons Center, first at White Oak, Maryland, formerly the Naval Ordnance Laboratory.
He was on American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into The Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He is survived by his wife Jean and his daughter Jennifer.
At the National 9/11 Memorial, Caswell is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-70.[2]