World top class elementary particle theoretical physicist, who pioneers high energy physics ceaselessly
7 Nobel Prize winner was produced on the basis of his work
(Late) Lee Whi-soh
(1935~1977)
- Academic background
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1953
Entered Department of Chemical Engineering, Seoul National University
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1956
Graduated Miami University, Ohio State, US (Department of Physics)
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1958
Graduated Pittsburgh University, US (Master of Physics)
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1960
Graduated Pennsylvania University, US (Doctor of Physics)
- Professional career
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1960 ~ 1966
Professor, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania University, US
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1960 ~ 1962
Researcher, Princeton Institute for Advanced Study
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1973 ~ 1977
Head of Theoretical Physics Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, US
- Awards
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1978
Order of Civil Merit, Camellia Medal
Global theoretical physicist called as ‘Oppenheimer of Korea’
Dr. Whi Soh Lee was a world-class elementary particle theoretical physicist who had the best work among physicists born in Korea and became close to winning of the Nobel Prize.
Dr. Whi Soh Lee is known as his English name ‘Benjamin W. Lee’ was the most famous theoretical physicist produced in Korea and the world's top-class theorist who pioneered high energy physics ceaselessly. His greatest work was the establishment of the renormalization of gauge theory and study on the search of the charm quark. Based on this work, 7 Nobel Prize winners were produced in the future. Before his sudden death from a surprise accident, he published about 140 articles and spotlighted enough to be cited over 10,000 times with only 60 articles among them.
Presented renormalization theory of the gauge theory and method to search charm quark
The renormalization of gauge theory presented by Dr. Whi Soh Lee established a standard model of elementary particle physics and his work affected a lot of scientists who won the Nobel Prize, including Weinberg, Salma, and Glashow (1979), 't Hooft and Veltman (1999), Gross, Wilczek, and Politzer (2004).
Fermi theory related to weak interaction of elementary particles like nuclear beta decay brought great revolution from the space inversion symmetry known in the late 1950s. Then although the theories intending to integrate electromagnetic interaction and weak interaction emerged, a renormalization of the gauge field associated with the weak interaction was the biggest obstacle. Dr. Whi Soh Lee suggested a solution for renormalization which was a problem in the theory of electromagnetic weak interaction to describe by integrating the electromagnetic interaction and weak interaction among 4 interactions in nature, using the theory of gauging symmetry and established a standard model of elementary physics. After his death, the gauge theory became standard theory and was established as the second physical theory next to Maxwell's theory to combine and explain 'electric' and ‘magnetic' phenomena. Due to his work, the theory of Weinberg, Salma, and Glashow was recognized by the academia and won the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly in 1979 and ’t Hooft and Veltman team also won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1999. It was expected that he won the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly in 1999 if he was alive.
Published about 140 articles and cited over 10,000 times with only 60 articles among them
Dr. Lee announced an innovative article of ‘Search for Charm’ related to the existence of Charm quark in 1974 and investigated properties of the particles that appear when they combine if the charm quark existed. In November of that year, several months later, the charm particles, J/ ψ particle were found. Richter and Sam Ting who found this particle won the Nobel Prize in 1976. Then his phenomenological articles such as ‘search for charm quark’ became goo guidance for experimental physicists. He predicted that these charm quark should exist from 1968 and forecasted its properties in detail. His article related to charm quark became a legend of high energy physics and is known and read extensively as a classic. He led the world theoretical physical society, as a subject speaker in a number of conferences during his lifetime. As ‘Oppenheimer of Korea’ recognized commonly, he played the role of an excellent mentor to colleagues and younger physicists. As a physicist to help physicists, he received a high reputation enough to be mentioned that any difficult and unknown questions should be discussed with Professor Whi Soh Lee.
He is evaluated to make a great contribution to the promotion of Korea's basic science study. He supported actively science and technology promotion plan of Seoul National University by AID credit fund of US in 1974 and improved the level of Korea graduate school in the 1980s by purchasing education equipment for domestic university and increasing laboratory facilities. In addition, emphasizing the importance of experimental physics, he provided a lot of support to make Korea participate in high energy international joint study. Serving as vice-chairman of KSEA for 3 years from 1972, he drew the participation of Korean-American in the science and technology areas during the industrialization period of Korea. In addition before that, persons and Professor Lederman who participated in his postmortem memorial symposium suggested intensively to support enough for the research support via Korea Basic Science Institute to bear fruits and contributed to the development of Korea basic science study.