Leigh Page

Leigh Page
Born October 13, 1884
New Jersey, USA
Died September 14, 1952 (aged 67)
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Nationality United States
Fields Physicist
Institutions Yale University
Alma mater Yale University
Doctoral advisor Henry Andrews Bumstead[1]
Doctoral students John Stuart Foster
Known for Conformal Invariance

Leigh Page (October 13, 1884 – September 14, 1952) was an American theoretical physicist. He developed the theory of conformal invariance originally suggested by Harry Bateman. Chairman of Mathematical Physics at the Sloane Physics Laboratory of Yale University for over three decades, he is the namesake of Yale’s prestigious Leigh Page Prize Lectures.[2]

Biography

Page was born October 13, 1884, in South Orange, New Jersey[3] to Edward Day Page and Nina Lee. He came to the Sheffield Scientific School “Sheff” at Yale in 1909 as an assistant professor in drawing and graduate student under Henry Andrews Bumstead.[1] He switched to physics in 1912, was appointed assistant professor of physics in 1916, and professor of mathematical physics in 1922, where he remained until his death in 1952. Devoting most of his time to teaching, Page conducted research and wrote several textbooks,[4][5][6][7] which appeared in various editions, often with the assistance of colleague Norman I. Adams, Jr. In 1967 Yale University sponsored the first of his namesake Leigh Page Prize Lectures, an honor since bestowed on several Nobel laureates and other notable physicists.

Scientific contributions

Page derived a complete electromagnetic theory, including Maxwell's equations, from only Coulomb's law and the Lorentz transformation.[8] His “emission theory” successfully explained blackbody radiation and other phenomena in electrodynamic terms,[9][10][11] but was eventually abandoned in favor of later theories of quantum mechanics.

Along with Norman I. Adams, Page established the relation between the “conformal transformation” and a constant relative acceleration.[12][13] This theory, known as “conformal relativity”, “conformal invariance”, or “conformal field theory”, is applied today as an invariance of gauge field theories for both electromagnetic and strong interactions. The symmetry of “conformal invariance” provides a valid approximation at very high energies or short distances when particle masses can safely be ignored.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/hbumstead.pdf
  2. ↑ W. F. G. Swann (Mar 1953). "Leigh Page: 1884-1952". Science 117 (3038): 289–290. Bibcode:1953Sci...117..289S. doi:10.1126/science.117.3038.289.
  3. ↑ "Prof. Page of Yale Relativity Expert; Faculty Member 40 Years-Who Called Formulae of Einstein 'Too Restricted' Dies at 68", The New York Times, September 17, 1952.
  4. ↑ Leigh Page, Introduction to Electrodynamics, D. Van Nostrand Co.(1922).
  5. ↑ Leigh Page, Introduction to Theoretical Physics, D. Van Nostrand Co.(1928).
  6. ↑ Leigh Page, Principles of Electricity, D. Van Nostrand Co.(1931)
  7. ↑ Leigh Page, Electrodynamics, D. Van Nostrand Co.(1940).
  8. ↑ Leigh Page (Jul 1912). "A Derivation of the Fundamental Relations of Electrodynamics from Those of Electrostatics". American Journal of Science 34: 57–68. doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-34.199.57.
  9. ↑ Leigh Page (Feb 1916). "The Distribution of Energy in the Normal Radiation Spectrum". Physical Review 7 (2): 229–240. Bibcode:1916PhRv....7..229P. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.7.229.
  10. ↑ Leigh Page (May 1918). "Is a Moving Mass Retarded by the Reaction of its own Radiation?". Physical Review 11 (5): 376–400. Bibcode:1918PhRv...11..376P. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.11.376.
  11. ↑ Leigh Page (Nov 1918). "The Motion of an Electrical Doublet". Physical Review 12 (5): 371–380. Bibcode:1918PhRv...12..371P. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.12.371.
  12. ↑ Leigh Page (Feb 1936). "A New Relativity. Paper I. Fundamental Principles and Transformations Between Accelerated Systems". Physical Review 49 (3): 254–268. Bibcode:1936PhRv...49..254P. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.49.254.
  13. ↑ Leigh Page, Norman I. Adams (Mar 1936). "A New Relativity. Paper II. Transformation of the Electromagnetic Field Between Accelerated Systems and the Force Equation". Physical Review 49 (6): 466–469. Bibcode:1936PhRv...49..466P. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.49.466.

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