Leonard Susskind

Leonard Susskind (born June, 1940)[2][3] is the professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics.
His research interests include string theory, quantum eld
theory, quantum statistical mechanics and quantum cosmology.[1] He is a member of the National Academy of
Sciences of the US,[4] and the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences,[5] an associate member of the faculty of
Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,[6]
and a distinguished professor of the Korea Institute for
Advanced Study.[7]

(197172), returning to Yeshiva to become a professor of

physics (19701979). Since 1979 he has been professor
of physics at Stanford University,[1] and since 2000 has
held the Felix Bloch professorship of physics.

Susskind was awarded the 1998 J. J. Sakurai Prize for

his pioneering contributions to hadronic string models,
lattice gauge theories, quantum chromodynamics, and dynamical symmetry breaking. Susskinds hallmark, according to colleagues, has been the application of brilliant imagination and originality to the theoretical study
of the nature of the elementary particles and forces that
Susskind is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string make up the physical world.[13]
theory,[8] having, with Yoichiro Nambu and Holger Bech In 2007, Susskind joined the faculty of Perimeter InNielsen, independently introduced the idea that parti- stitute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario,
cles could in fact be states of excitation of a relativistic Canada, as an associate member. He has been elected
string.[9] He was the rst to give a precise string-theory in- to the National Academy of Sciences and the American
terpretation of the holographic principle in 1995[10] and Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a distinguished
the rst to introduce the idea of the string theory land- professor at Korea Institute for Advanced Study.[15]
scape in 2003.[11][12]
Susskind was awarded the 1998 J. J. Sakurai Prize.[13]

2.1 Scientic career

Susskind was one of at least three physicists who independently discovered during or around 1970 that the
Veneziano dual resonance model of strong interactions
could be described by a quantum mechanical model of
strings,[16] and was the rst to propose the idea of the
string theory landscape. Susskind has also made contributions in the following areas of physics:

Early life and education

Leonard Susskind was born to a Jewish family from the

South Bronx section of New York City,[14] he now resides in Palo Alto, California. He began working as a
plumber at the age of 16, taking over from his father who
had become ill.[14] Later, he enrolled in the City College
of New York as an engineering student, graduating with
a B.S. in physics in 1962.[5] In an interview in the Los
Angeles Times, Susskind recalls the moment he discussed
with his father this change in career path: When I told
my father I wanted to be a physicist, he said: Hell no,
you aint going to work in a drug store. I said, No. Not
a pharmacist. I said, Like Einstein. He poked me in the
chest with a piece of plumbing pipe. You aint going to
be no engineer, he said. Youre going to be Einstein."[14]
Susskind then studied at Cornell University under Peter
A. Carruthers where he earned his Ph.D. in 1965. He has
been married twice, rst in 1960,[5] and has four children.

The independent discovery of the string theory

model of particle physics
The theory of quark connement[17]
The development of Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory[18]
The theory of scaling violations in deep inelastic
electroproduction
The theory of symmetry breaking sometimes known
as "technicolor theory[19]
The second, yet independent, theory of cosmological baryogenesis[20] (Andrei Sakharov's work was
rst, but was mostly unknown in the Western hemisphere)

Career

Susskind was an assistant professor of physics, then an

associate professor at Yeshiva University (19661970),
after which he went for a year to the Tel Aviv University

String theory of black hole entropy[21]

The principle of black hole complementarity[22]
1

CORNELL MESSENGER LECTURES

The causal patch hypothesis

Susskind to formulate his theory that would prove Hawking wrong. He then published his theory in his book, The
The holographic principle[23]
Black Hole War. Like The Cosmic Landscape, The Black
Hole War is aimed at the lay reader. He writes: The
M-theory, including development of the BFSS mareal tools for understanding the quantum universe are ab[24]
trix model
stract mathematics: innite dimensional Hilbert spaces,
projection operators, unitary matrices and a lot of other
Kogut-Susskind fermions
advanced principles that take a few years to learn. But
Introduction of holographic entropy bounds in lets see how we do in just a few pages.
physical cosmology

The idea of an anthropic string theory landscape[11]

The Census Takers Hat

Books

Susskind is the author of several popular science books.

3.1

The Cosmic Landscape

3.3

The Theoretical Minimum book series

Susskind is currently co-authoring a series of companion books to his lecture series The Theoretical Minimum.
The rst of these, The Theoretical Minimum: What You
Need to Know to Start Doing Physics,[27] was published in
2013 and presents the modern formulations of classical
mechanics. The second of these, Quantum Mechanics:
The Theoretical Minimum,[28] was published in February
2014. The next book is expected to be largely concerned
with special relativity.

Main article: The Cosmic Landscape

The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of
Intelligent Design is Susskinds rst popular science book,
published by Little, Brown and Company on December
12, 2005.[25] It is Susskinds attempt to bring his idea of
the anthropic landscape of string theory to the general
public. In the book, Susskind describes how the string
theory landscape was an almost inevitable consequence
of several factors, one of which was Steven Weinberg's
prediction of the cosmological constant in 1987. The
question addressed here is why our universe is ne-tuned
for our existence. Susskind explains that Weinberg calculated that if the cosmological constant was just a little
dierent, our universe would cease to exist.

3.2

The Black Hole War

Main articles: The Black Hole War and SusskindHawking battle

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics is
Susskinds second popular science book, published by
Little, Brown, and Company on July 7, 2008.[26] The
book is his most famous work and explains what he thinks
would happen to the information and matter stored in a
black hole when it evaporates. The book sparked from
a debate that started in 1981, when there was a meeting of physicists to try to decode some of the mysteries
about how particles of particular elemental compounds
function. During this discussion Stephen Hawking stated
that the information inside a black hole is lost forever as
the black hole evaporates. It took 28 years for Leonard

The Theoretical Minimum lecture

series

Susskind teaches a series of Stanford Continuing Studies

courses about modern physics referred to as The Theoretical Minimum. These lectures later formed the basis for
the books of the same name.[29] The goal of the courses
is to teach the basic but rigorous theoretical foundations
required to study certain areas of physics. The sequence
covers classical mechanics, relativity, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and cosmology, including the
physics of black holes.[30]
These courses are available on the The Theoretical Minimum website, on iTunes, and on YouTube. The courses
are intended for the mathematically literate[31] public as
well as physical science/mathematics students. Susskind
aims the courses at people with prior exposure to algebra,
calculus,[32] vectors, dierential calculus, integrals, and
perhaps dierential operators, matrices, and linear equations. Homework and study outside of class is otherwise
unnecessary. Susskind explains most of the mathematics
used, which form the basis of the lectures.

5 Cornell Messenger Lectures

Susskind gave 3 lectures "The Birth of the Universe and
the Origin of Laws of Physics" April 28-May 1, 2014 in
the Cornell Messenger Lecture series which are posted
on a Cornell website.[33]

SmolinSusskind debate

9 References

The Smolin-Susskind debate refers to the series of in- [1]

tense postings in 2004 between Lee Smolin and Susskind,
concerning Smolins argument that the "anthropic prin- [2]
ciple cannot yield any falsiable predictions, and therefore cannot be a part of science.[34] It began on July 26,
2004, with Smolins publication of Scientic alternatives [3]
to the anthropic principle. Smolin e-mailed Susskind
asking for a comment. Having not had the chance to
read the paper, Susskind requested a summarization of [4]
his arguments. Smolin obliged, and on July 28, 2004,
Susskind responded, saying that the logic Smolin followed can lead to ridiculous conclusions.[34] The next
[5]
day, Smolin responded, saying that If a large body of our
colleagues feels comfortable believing a theory that cannot be proved wrong, then the progress of science could [6]
get stuck, leading to a situation in which false, but unfal[7]
siable theories dominate the attention of our eld. This
was followed by another paper by Susskind which made a
few comments about Smolins theory of cosmic natural
selection.[35] The Smolin-Susskind debate nally ended [8]
with each of them agreeing to write a nal letter which
would be posted on the edge.org website, with three con- [9]
ditions attached: (1) No more than one letter each; (2)
Neither sees the others letter in advance; (3) No changes
[10]
after the fact.

Personal life

Faculty information sheet. Stanford University. Retrieved 2009-09-01.

Lennyfest. May 2021, 2000:his 60th birthday was celebrated with a special symposium at Stanford University.
Why is Time a One-Way Street?". June 26, 2013:in Georey Wests introduction, he gives Suskinds current age
as 74 and says his birthday was recent.
60 New Members Chosen by Academy. National
Academy of Sciences (press release). May 2, 2000. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
www.edge.org Leonard Susskind - A Biography (last accessed August 12, 2007).
Leonard Susskind Joins PI. October 15, 2007.
Susskind, Leonard: Distinguished Professor / School of
Physics : Theoretical Particle Physics. Korea Institute for
Advanced Study.
Father of String Theory Muses on the Megaverse.
NYAS Publications.
http://www.veccal.ernet.in/~{}iwlsc/qgp/Haridass_talk.
ppt Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
Susskind, Leonard (1995). The World as a Hologram.
Journal of Mathematical Physics 36 (11): 63776396.
arXiv:hep-th/9409089. Bibcode:1995JMP....36.6377S.
doi:10.1063/1.531249.

[11] Leonard Susskind (2003). The Anthropic Landscape of

String Theory. arXiv:hep-th/0302219 [hep-th].

Susskind was a close friend of Richard Feynman, though

they never published a paper together. Susskind always [12] Byrne, P. (2011). Bad Boy of Physics. Scientic American 305: 80. doi:10.1038/scienticamerican0711-80.
referred to Feynman as Dick. While at a conference
in France, Feynman took to calling Susskind Leonardo [13] Salisbury, David F. (11 May 1997). Susskind wins presbecause he was practicing his French.[36]
tigious Sakurai Prize in theoretical physics (Press reSusskind is a great-grandfather.
atheist.[37]

See also
Superstring theory
Quantum chromodynamics
Supersymmetry
SusskindGlogower operator
List of theoretical physicists
KogutSusskind fermions
FischlerSusskind mechanism
Boris Pregel

He identies as an

lease). Stanford University.

[14] Leonard Susskind discusses duel with Stephen Hawking. Los Angeles Times. July 26, 2008.
[15] Welcome To Kias
[16] Schwarz (2000). String Theory: The Early Years.
arXiv:hep-th/0007118 [hep-th].
[17] Susskind, L. (1979).
Lattice models of quark
connement at high temperature. Physical Review
D 20 (10): 2610. Bibcode:1979PhRvD..20.2610S.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.20.2610.
[18] Kogut, John; Susskind, Leonard (1975). Hamiltonian
formulation of Wilsons lattice gauge theories. Physical
Review D 11 (2): 395. Bibcode:1975PhRvD..11..395K.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.11.395.
[19] Yao, W. -M. (2006).
Review of Particle
Physics. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics 33 (1): 1.
arXiv:astro-ph/0601168.
Bibcode:2006JPhG...33....1Y.
doi:10.1088/09543899/33/1/001.

11
Dynamical Electroweak Symmetry Breaking section cites two 1979 publications, one by Steven
Weinberg, the other by L. Susskind to represent the earliest models with technicolor and technifermions.

[20] Biography, American Physical Society website (last accessed November, 2013)
[21] Leonard Susskind (1993). Some Speculations about
Black Hole Entropy in String Theory. arXiv:hepth/9309145 [hep-th].
[22] Susskind, L. (1993). String theory and the principle of black hole complementarity.
Physical
Review Letters 71 (15): 23672368.
arXiv:hepBibcode:1993PhRvL..71.2367S.
th/9307168.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.2367. PMID 10054662.
[23] Bousso, R. (2002).
The holographic principle.
Reviews of Modern Physics 74 (3): 825. arXiv:hepth/0203101.
Bibcode:2002RvMP...74..825B.
doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.74.825.
The insistence on unitarity in the presence of black holes led 't Hooft (1993) and
Susskind (1995b) to embrace a more radical,
holographic interpretation of ...
[24] Banks, T.; Fischler, W.; Shenker, S. H.; Susskind,
L. (1997). M theory as a matrix model: A conjecture. Physical Review D 55 (8): 5112. arXiv:hepth/9610043.
Bibcode:1997PhRvD..55.5112B.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.55.5112.
[25] L. Susskind (2005). The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design. Little, Brown.
ISBN 0-316-15579-9.
[26] L. Susskind (2008). The Black Hole War: My battle with
Stephen Hawking to make the world safe for quantum mechanics. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-01640-3.
[27] Susskind, Leonard; Hrabovsky, George (2013). The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing
Physics. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02811-X.
[28] Susskind, Leonard; Friedman, Art (2014). Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum. Basic Books. ISBN
0-465-03667-8.
[29] Gribbin, John (1 February 2013). Physics Made (Almost) Easy. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
[30] The Theoretical Minimum. theoreticalminimum.com.
Retrieved 3 June 2014.
[31] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v506/n7489/full/
506431a.html
[32] The Theoretical Minimum. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
The courses are specically aimed at people who know,
or once knew, a bit of algebra and calculus, but are more
or less beginners.
[33] The Birth of the Universe and the Origin of Laws of
Physics - CornellCast. CornellCast. Retrieved 2015-1226.

EXTERNAL LINKS

[34] Smolin vs. Susskind: The Anthropic Principle. Edge

Institute. August 2004. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
[35] Letter from Leonard Susskind at the Wayback Machine
(archived October 21, 2012)
[36] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjwotips7E
[37] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjwotips7E

10 Further reading
Chown, Marcus, Our world may be a giant hologram, New Scientist, 15 January 2009, magazine issue 2691. The holograms you nd on credit cards
and banknotes are etched on two-dimensional plastic lms. When light bounces o them, it recreates the appearance of a 3D image. In the 1990s
physicists Leonard Susskind and Nobel prize winner Gerard 't Hooft suggested that the same principle might apply to the universe as a whole. Our
everyday experience might itself be a holographic
projection of physical processes that take place on a
distant, 2D surface.

11 External links
Leonard Susskinds Faculty Page (Stanford University)
Susskinds Blog: Physics for Everyone
The Theoretical Minimum website, with the full set
of free lectures
Radio Interview: Leonard Susskind discusses his
life as a physicist, string theory and the holographic
principle on The 7th Avenue Project radio show
The Edge:
"Interview with Leonard Susskind."
"Smolin vs. Susskind: The Anthropic Principle" Susskind and Lee Smolin debate the
Anthropic principle
Radio Interview from This Week in Science March
14, 2006 Broadcast
Father of String Theory Muses on the Megaverse":
Podcast
Leonard Susskind at the Internet Movie Database
Leonard Susskind: My friend Richard Feynman on
YouTube - A Ted talk

12
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