Recently, I saw a surprising piece of news: someone got a PhD in physics at the age of 89!
Manfred Steiner, an 89-year-old physics student at Brown University, received his Ph.D
The old man, Manfred Steiner, passed his PhD defense in the Department of Physics at Brown University on September 15, 2021, with a dissertation entitled "Corrections to the Geometrical Interpretation of Bosonization."
Manfred Steiner
Born in Vienna, Steiner lived through the chaos of World War II and migrated to the United States after the war. When he graduated from high school, he knew physics was his true passion. But his uncle and mother advised him to pursue a career in medicine because it was a better option in the turbulent post-war world. His uncle was a surgeon who was proficient in otolaryngology.
Steiner followed the family's advice and embarked on the path of medicine. In fact, he had great success on the path of medicine: he received his M.D. from the University of Vienna in 1955, his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967, his assistant professor at Brown University School of Medicine in 1968, his full professor in 1978, and the head of the Department of Hematology at Brown University School of Medicine from 1985 to 1994. By the time he retired in 2000 at the age of 68, Steiner could be said to have contributed his life to medicine, achieving great achievements and making a name for himself.
However, the passion for physics never left him. When Steiner was in medical school, he liked to go to physics classes and was fascinated by quantum mechanics. During his long medical work, he could not delve into the mysteries of physics, because medicine could not be done half-heartedly, and you had to dedicate your entire life to it. But after retiring, near the age of 70, he was determined to enter the world of physics.
In 2000, Mr. Steiner entered Brown University as a special student, the university where he had been a professor of medicine all his life, and began to study physics undergraduate courses. He was welcomed by the teachers and classmates around him. Come to think of it, a lot of people here are half his age or even 1/4!
Brown University
Steiner didn't want to get a third Ph.D. at first, he just planned to go to class, learn something interesting, and keep his mind flexible. But by 2007, he had finished his undergraduate course and entered graduate school as a doctoral candidate. The reason it took so long was because he only took one or two courses per semester due to some serious health problems.
In graduate school, Steiner continued his graduate classes and began looking for a doctoral thesis supervisor. He wanted to study nuclear physics, but feared it would keep him away from his family, so he contacted Professor Brad Marston, a theorist of condensed matter physics. Marston says he hasn't studied nuclear theory, but he can give Steiner the closest thing he's ever done to nuclear physics, bosonization.
Brad Marston
The meaning of the word is that microscopic particles are divided into two categories, fermion and boson, for example electrons belong to fermions and photons belong to bosons. There are important differences between the two particles, such as the fermion must satisfy the Pauli exclusion principle, while the boson is not bound by the Pauli exclusion principle. In some cases, however, we can describe fermions as bosons, which is bosonization, which brings certain benefits. People generally approach one-dimensional problems with bosom, but Marston wants to extend it to higher dimensions, such as two- or three-dimensional metals. Marston gave Steiner the subject, which was a difficult one. Steiner's work in this area is the content of his doctoral dissertation, and they are writing some of these results for publication in journal papers.
Marston was initially skeptical that Steiner, in his 70s, would come to him as a mentor, after all, few people do physics at such an advanced age, let alone do theoretical physics. But then he agreed. He knew Steiner's story and understood his desire to become a physicist and was willing to help him realize his lifelong dream.
On Steiner's defense committee was a professor named James Valles. He remembers meeting Steiner in the hallway for his undergraduate course, and he made no secret of his desire to do physics and have been thinking about it all his life. This enthusiasm is all the more certain given that he has already had brilliant success in another area. Valles also spoke highly of Steiner's phD work, believing that it involved very advanced technology. Watching Steiner do the research was incredibly encouraging.
James Valles
After receiving his Ph.D. in physics, Steiner was ecstatic, as if he were on top of the world. Let's recall that he received his PhDs in medicine and biochemistry in 1955 and 1967, so this is his third PhD. But this is the one he cherishes the most, because it is his lifelong dream.
After earning his ph.D., Steiner did not idle. He is revising his thesis for publication and intends to continue his research in theoretical physics. He believes he will achieve more.
Sometimes Steiner wonders how different his life would have been if he hadn't heeded his uncle and mother' advice. But he doesn't regret it. He also felt good throughout his medical career and made a lot of amazing friends. But physics is always lurking in the background.
Finally, Steiner's advice to young people is: Pursue your dreams, no matter what.
Steiner's story reminds me of some other legends.
John B. Goodenough, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was born in 1922 at the age of 97. We often joke that being "good enough" should be called oldenough "old enough." His research area is lithium batteries, and he himself is the best proof of ultra-long standby. When the old man was interviewed, he often humorously said: "I still have time, I am only in my 90s!" ”
John B. goodenough
I recently introduced joan sylvia lyttle birman, a member of the American Academy of Sciences in the new section, who means 94 because she was born in 1927.
Joan Sylvia lyttle birman
The average mathematician has to change careers when he is 40 years old and has no big results, but this grandmother only got a doctorate at the age of 41 and began a career in mathematics. She could not have won the Fields Medal because it was only awarded to mathematicians under the age of 40. But she influenced two Fields Medal-winning mathematicians, Vaughan Jones and Maryam Mirzakhani.
Vaughan Jones
Maryam mirzakhani
Mirzahani is the only female Fields Medal winner to date. Joan Berman and the Chinese mathematician Lin Xiaosong have made great contributions to the study of Vasilev invariants, and most mathematicians have studied Vasilev invariants through their papers. Joan Berman also published more than a dozen papers after she turned 80, the latest of which was completed in 2018, when she was 91!
I was deeply moved by these stories. The biggest lesson is that it's never too late to do good, and love can do wonders.