Benjamin W. Lee Memorial
Given at Fermilab
Conference on Parity Nonconservation, Weak Neutral
Currents and Gauge Theories
October 20, 1977
C. N. Yang
Benjamin W. Lee was born in 1935 and died earlier this year at the age of 42. He had published more than one hundred research papers in theoretical physics in his lifetime.
The discipline of theoretical physics has as its principal aim the formulation of theoretical descriptions of the physical world which are concise and comprehensive. Its history has taught us that it is a glorious enterprise. It has produced, for understanding the subtle, complex and often confusing manifestations of nature, theoretical descriptions of unimagined accuracy. It utilizes, and helps to originate and to develop, mathematical concepts of the greatest beauty and depth.
Because nature is subtle and complex, the pursuit of theoretical physics requires bold and enthusiastic ventures into the muddy waters at the frontiers of newly discovered phenomena. Because the concepts used are beautiful and deep, the pursuit of theoretical physics requires appreciation of and insight into the structural aspects of the theoretical apparatus.
Ben Lee's work was characterized by his ability to excel in both of these requirements. His paper with Gaillard and Rosner in the Reviews of Modern Physics completed before the discovery of J/ψ , was remarkable to read at the time and even more remarkable to read now, after the experimental discovery of charm. His work on the renormalizability of gauge theories is among the very important works on the fundamental structure of theoretical physics in recent years. We know that few contributions in theoretical physics remain noticeable after ten years. Fewer after twenty. I venture to guess that the renormalizability of gauge fields will remain important fifty years from now.
We at Stony Brook were fortunate to have had Ben in our midst for many years. He was stimulating as a physicist, cooperative and generous as a colleague and friend. He had the admirable quality of always balancing enthusiasm with good judgement and restraint. Many of us, and I in particular, had profited from many, many enjoyable discussions with him.
Ben's death occurred at the peak of his career as a physicist. He was exuberant and full of ideas about what is in store for our field. Let me quote from a speech he made last January at the Chicago Meeting of the American Physical Society, when Steve Weinberg was awarded the Heineman prize:
"Do we understand, or hope to understand, weak interactions as well as, say electrodynamics, in the present framework? Perhaps. We have yet to come to grips with CP violation and ultrahigh energy behaviors of weak interactions, on which subjects I have a few remarks to make. But I am more optimistic than ever that we are on the right track, and I can say that Steve has earned the honor bestowed on him today."
Ben's untimely death was a great loss to his family and his friends. It was a great loss to Fermilab. It was a great loss to the science of physics.