It’s late in the evening, but I feel compelled to offer a little tribute to Sidney Coleman, who passed away on Sunday. He was one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20th century who made tremendous contributions to our understanding of quantum field theory and fundamental symmetries in nature. And as I explained in a comment on the tribute at cosmic variance, he is part of a memory that I treasure very much from an otherwise turbulent time at Harvard:
I have wonderful memories of waiting for the discussion section for classical mechanics right down the hall from Sidney Coleman’s office. He would walk by, a little bent over, still wearing his bicycle helmet and ankle reflectors. We’d look at him, then look at the bust of Einstein and think … is it possible? Looking back, what was striking about Professor Coleman wasn’t so much his passing (literally passing!) resemblance to Einstein, but the apparent humility of this little old man who, at an advanced age, still rode his bicycle to Jefferson Lab to pursue the mysteries to which he had devoted his life.
That’s an image which has always stayed with me and which I think about often. It is a reminder of the glory of the process, that though we may not get all the answers in the end, several decades decades down the line, we can still be inspired to go into the office and wonder about how it all works. That is a tremendous gift.
note: The photo above is taken in the very hallway where I saw him walk by and comes courtesy of Wikipedia.
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