Martinus Veltman.html



Martinus Justinus Godefriedus Veltman
Born	June 27, 1931 (1931-06-27) (age 77) Waalwijk, Netherlands
Nationality	Netherlands
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Utrecht University
Alma mater	Utrecht University
Doctoral students	Gerardus 't Hooft Peter Van Nieuwenhuizen
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in physics (1999)

Martinus Justinus Godefriedus Veltman (born June 27, 1931 in Waalwijk) is a Dutch theoretical physicist. He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in physics with his former student Gerardus 't Hooft for their work on particle theory.

Biography

Martinus J.G. Veltman was born in Waalwijk, Netherlands on June 27, 1931. He started studying mathematics and physics at Utrecht University in 1948. He obtained his PhD in theoretical physics in 1963 and became professor at Utrecht University in 1966.

In 1971, Gerardus 't Hooft, who was completing his PhD under the supervision of Veltman, renormalized Yang-Mills theory. They showed that if the symmetries of Yang-Mills theory were to be broken according to the method suggested by Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University, then Yang-Mills theory can be renormalized. Renormalization of Yang-Mills theory is one of the biggest achievements of twentieth century physics.

In 1981, Veltman left Utrecht University for the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, frustrated by the recognition his student 't Hooft got for his PhD thesis. Veltman felt that he had done most of the preliminary work and written the program which made the dissertation possible. However, most of the credit went to 't Hooft.¹

But eventually, in 1999, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1999 together with 't Hooft, "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics".² Veltman and 't Hooft joined in the celebrations at Utrecht University when the prize was awarded.

Veltman is now retired and holds a position of Emeritus Professor at the University of Michigan. Asteroid 9492 Veltman is named in his honor.

In 2003, Veltman published a book about particle physics for a broad audience, entitled Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics.

References

Bibliography

• Veltman, M. "Perturbation Theory of Massive Yang-Mills Fields", Utrecht Rijksuniversiteit (Netherlands). Instituut voor Theoretische Fysica. Paris Univ., Orsay (France). Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Hautes Energies,(Aug. 1968).
• Veltman, M. & J. Yellin. "Some Comments on the Decays of eta (550)", Brookhaven National Laboratory, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (July 1966).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martinus Veltman

• University of Michigan Page
• Nobel Archive 1999
• Photograph, Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy
• Freeview video 'An Interview with Martinus Veltman' by the Vega Science Trust
• Freeview video 'Why do we need a linear collider'