Dirac Medallists 1998

Stephen L. Adler, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA, and

Roman Jackiw, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

Both Stephen Adler and Roman Jackiw have been leaders in the sophisticated use of quantum field theory to illuminate physical problems. The derivation by Adler (and, independently, Weisberger) of a sum rule for pion-nucleon scattering marked a breakthrough in our understanding of the currents and broken symmetries of the strong interactions. Jackiw made a major contribution to field theories relevant to condensed matter physics in his discovery (with Rebbi) of fractional charge and spin in these theories. The paths of Adler and Jackiw (with Bell) crossed in what may be their most important discovery: the celebrated triangle anomaly, one of the most profound examples of the relevance of quantum field theory to the real world.