Magnet Academy: Julian Schwinger

Theoretical physicist Julian Schwinger used the mathematical process of renormalization to rid the quantum field theory developed by Paul Dirac of serious incongruities with experimental observations that had nearly prompted the scientific community to abandon it. For this achievement, which firmly established quantum electrodynamics (QED) as an accurate predictor of the interactions of charged particles, Schwinger won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. Physicists Richard Feynman and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga shared the award with him that year.