John C. Baez
John C. Baez | |
---|---|
PhD) | |
Spouse | Lisa Raphals |
Awards | Levi L. Conant Prize (2013)[1] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics, mathematical physics |
Institutions | University of California, Riverside |
Thesis | Conformally Invariant Quantum Fields (1986) |
Doctoral advisor | Irving Segal |
Doctoral students | Alissa Crans |
John Carlos Baez (/ˈbaɪ.ɛz/;[2] born June 12, 1961) is an American mathematical physicist and a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Riverside (UCR)[3] in Riverside, California. He has worked on spin foams in loop quantum gravity, applications of higher categories to physics, and applied category theory. Additionally, Baez is known on the World Wide Web as the author of the crackpot index.
Education
John C. Baez attended Princeton University where he graduated with an A.B. in mathematics in 1982; his senior thesis was titled "Recursivity in quantum mechanics", under the supervision of John P. Burgess.[4] He earned his doctorate in 1986 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the direction of Irving Segal.[5]
Career
Baez was a
Research
His research includes work on spin foams in loop quantum gravity.[6][7] He also worked on applications of higher categories to physics,[8][9] such as the cobordism hypothesis. He has also dedicated many efforts towards applied category theory, including network theory.[10]
Recognition
Baez won the 2013 Levi L. Conant Prize for his expository paper with John Huerta, "The algebra of grand unified theories".[1] He was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, in the 2022 class of fellows, "for contributions to higher category theory and mathematical physics, and for popularization of these subjects".[11]
Forums
Baez is the author of This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics,[12] an irregular column on the internet featuring mathematical exposition and criticism. He started This Week's Finds in 1993 for the Usenet community, and it now has a following in its new form, the blog Azimuth. This Week's Finds anticipated the concept of a personal weblog.[13] Azimuth also covers other topics that include combating climate change and various other environmental issues.[14]
He is also co-founder of the n-Category Café (or n-Café), a
Family
Baez's uncle Albert Baez was a physicist and a co-inventor of the X-ray microscope; Albert interested him in physics as a child.[15] Through Albert, he is cousins with singers Joan Baez and Mimi Fariña.
John Baez is married to Lisa Raphals who is a professor of Chinese and comparative literature at UCR.[16][17]
Selected publications
Papers
- Baez, John C.; Dolan, James (1995). "Higher‐dimensional algebra and topological quantum field theory". S2CID 14908618.
- Baez, John C. (2002). "The Octonions". S2CID 586512.
- Baez, John C.; Huerta, John (2010). "The algebra of grand unified theories". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 47 (3). Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society: 483–552. Zbl 1196.81252.
- Baez, John C.; Hoffnung, Alexander E.; Rogers, Christopher L. (2010). "Categorified Symplectic Geometry and the Classical String". Zbl 1192.81208.
- Baez, John C.; Huerta, John (2014). "G2 and the rolling ball". S2CID 50818244.
- Baez, John C. (2018). "From the Icosahedron to E8". London Math. Soc. Newsletter. 476. London, UK: 18–23. Zbl 1476.51020.
Books
- Baez, John C.; Segal, Irving E.; Zhou, Zhengfang (1992). An Introduction to Algebraic and Constructive Quantum Field Theory. Princeton Series in Physics. Vol. 47. Princeton, NJ: OCLC 889252663.
- Baez, John C., ed. (1994). Knots and Quantum Gravity. Oxford Lecture Series in Mathematics and its Applications. Vol. 1. Oxford: OCLC 30509964.
- Baez, John C.; Muniain, Javier P. (1994). Gauge fields, knots and gravity. Series on Knots and Everything. Vol. 4. River Edge, NJ: OCLC 30779834.
- Baez, John C.; May, J. Peter, eds. (2009). Towards Higher Categories. The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and its Applications. Vol. 157. New York, NY: OCLC 778311627.
- Baez, John C.; Baratin, Aristide; Laurent, Freidel; Derek, Wise (2012). Infinite-Dimensional Representations of 2-Groups. OCLC 5581307110.
- Baez, John C; Biamonte, Jacob D. (2018). Quantum Techniques for Stochastic Mechanics. Singapore: S2CID 119650940.
References
- ^ Notices of the AMS, 60 (4): 484–485, April 2013
- ^ "John Baez Part 1"
- ^ UC Riverside, Department of Mathematics
- ^ Baez, John C. (1982). Recursivity in quantum mechanics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Department of Mathematics.
- ^ John C. Baez at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ Baez, John C. (1998), "Spin foam models", Class. & Quantum Gravity 15, 1827–1858
- ^ Top Cited Articles of All Time (2004 edition) in gr-qc
- ^ John Baez Diary – January 2010, 1 January 2010
- ^ John C. Baez and Aaron Lauda, A Prehistory of n-Categorical Physics, Deep Beauty, 13–128, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, (2011).
- ^ John Baez, Network theory.
- ^ "2022 Class of Fellows of the AMS". American Mathematical Society. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
- ^ This Week's Finds
- ^ Lieven LeBruyn, The unbearable lightness of math-blogging, August 23, 2007
- ^ "The Azimuth Project".
- ^ "Interview by David Morrison". Retrieved May 24, 2009.
- ^ February 17, 2007 – Lisa Raphals and I got married today! (Diary – February 2007)
- ^ "Lisa Raphals (UCR faculty page)". Archived from the original on May 3, 2014. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
External links
- Baez's home page at UCR's official website (ucr.edu)
- Azimuth blog by Baez
- The n-Category Café
- Home page in nLab
Essays
- "Should I be thinking about quantum gravity?", essay by Baez at The World Question Center