RETROSPECT by silva young

A gathering place for great minds

For more than 20 years, the William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute has laid the groundwork for advances in our everyday lives.

THE NEXT TIME you’re browsing the Web or having your groceries scanned at the supermarket, it’s likely that theoretical physics won’t be the first thing on your mind, unless you’re a researcher at the University of Minnesota’s William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute (FTPI).

While researchers in FTPI perceive the universe in terms of waves, particles and fields, their work is of significant importance to improving technology in our everyday lives.

Founded more than 20 years ago, FTPI was largely the work of physics professor emeritus Stephen Gasiorowicz and University alumnus and Twin Cities
real-estate developer William Fine, who had a lifelong interest in the physical sciences.
Convinced that the study of physics was vital to the advancement of civilization, Fine was interested in supporting the science. Together, Gasiorowicz and Fine came up with the idea of starting a theoretical physics institute.

Physics used to fight viruses

In 2000, Boris Shklovskii, former director of the Fine Theoretical Physics Institute and holder of the A.S. Fine Chair in Theoretical Physics, began exploring new applications for his research with semiconductors. He now works with biologists, chemists, and physicians to understand the physics behind viruses like HIV and how they assemble themselves. “Viruses are the most dangerous terrorists we face today. Once we understand exactly how they function, we have a chance of effectively fighting the enemy,” he said.

At the time, the University’s administration was reluctant to approve a large initiative in the pure sciences. Encouraged by outgoing head of the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy Charles Campbell, and his successor, Marvin Marshak, the University agreed to match Fine’s gift and provide ongoing funds in 1986.

FTPI officially opened in January 1987, just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a period when scientists were suddenly able to travel more freely. The development would prove fortuitous for FTPI.

When Gasiorowicz was named FTPI’s first acting director, he knew finding faculty for the Institute who would focus on theoretical work wouldn’t be easy. “Finding top minds in the areas of high-energy
and condensed-matter physics who were willing to theorize for FTPI was a major challenge. Luring faculty away from other institutions would have been extremely difficult,” Gasiorowicz said.

Larry McLerran, then a physics faculty member who would later become FTPI’s first permanent director, had been traveling to Russia at least once a year. He had worked with many scientists there during Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika which promoted freedom of information and an increase in international collaboration.

Several of FTPI’s current faculty first came to the University as participants in the long-term visitor program. “Within a very short time, we had recruited five top-notch Russian physicists for permanent faculty positions,” Gasiorowicz said.

THEN: Top minds in theoretical physics use complex formulas in their work. Marvin Marshak, former head of the School of Physics and Astronomy, recruited five theoretical physicists at the Fine Theoretical Physics Institute from the former Soviet Union. Pictured in this 1992 photo from left to right are Mikhail Shifman, Boris Shklovskii, Leonid Glazman, Marvin Marshak, Arkady Vainshtein, and Mikhail Voloshin.

They included Leonid Glazman, Mikhail Shifman, Boris Shklovskii, Arkady Vainshtein, and Mikhail Voloshin. These five, together with the later addition of Keith Olive, still make up the FTPI faculty today, with Voloshin serving as director. The late Anatoly Larkin was also a key member of the FTPI faculty until his death in 2005.

FTPI’s current list of theorists reads like a Who’s Who among physicists. Glazman, Olive, Shklovskii, Shifman, Vainshtein, and Voloshin were elected fellows of the American Physical Society. Shklovskii received the prestigious Landau Prize, named after Nobel Laureate Lev Landau, one of the century’s most highly esteemed theoretical physicists. Vainshtein, Voloshin, and Shifman were awarded the J. J. Sakurai Prize by the American Physical Society, one of the highest honors a physicist can receive. Vainshtein also received the Pomeranchuk Prize, and Mikhail Shifman was recently honored with the Lilienfeld Prize. At least two of the members have laws of physics named after them.

“These people are truly leaders in their fields,” said Allen Goldman, physics professor and current head of the University of Minnesota’s School of Physics and Astronomy. “In many cases, they define their fields.”

Today, FTPI occupies offices on the top floor of the University’s physics building where the atmosphere continues to be decidedly international. Theorists often confer with one another in Russian, among other languages, and the manner in which they study physics and interact with their colleagues has a distinctly cosmopolitan flavor.

NOW: The most important function of FTFTPI is to produce significant, exciting, and sound theoretical physics that will have an impact on physics as a whole. The Institute provides a meeting place for theorists from around the world. (left to right) Former postdocs, Durmus Demir, Maxim Pospelov, and Adam Ritz exchange and develop ideas.

The effect of their research is universally understood. Their work is laying the groundwork for cutting- edge developments in many new technologies such as medical imaging, computer-assisted surgery, emerging nanotechnology, computer miniaturization, more efficient power lines, and new cell phone technology. Their research is often the springboard for experiments conducted by other scientists.

FTPI has a worldwide reach. The Institute has hosted more than 800 individual researchers, from institutions in more than 18 countries, for working visits of one day to six months. The Institute also averages nearly 50 speakers a year.

In addition to passionate researchers, the scientists at FTPI are dedicated teachers and mentors. As University faculty, Institute members teach courses, advise Ph.D. students, and mentor postdoctoral researchers. Many of their students have gone on to distinguished careers in university, industry, and laboratory settings such as the University of California, Berkeley; Lockheed Martin; and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

In 2002, the Institute officially changed its name to the William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute to honor Fine for his critical role in the Institute’s creation. He died in 2002, and his wife, Bianca Conti- Fine, a University professor, succeeded him as co-chair of the Institute’s oversight committee.

“Physicists worldwide come here to study, conduct research and learn from faculty who are great players in theoretical physics,” Conti-Fine said. “By exploring fundamental questions at the forefront of theoretical physics, we’re investing in the future.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION see www.ftpi.umn.edu