Steven Weinberg Quick Info
Height5 ft 10 in
Weight77 kg
Date of BirthMay 3, 1933
Zodiac SignTaurus
Date of DeathJuly 23, 2021

Steven Weinberg was an American theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1979 for his contributions, alongside Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow, to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles. Theoretical Physicist Peter Woit has described Weinberg as “arguably the dominant figure in theoretical particle physics during its period of great success from the late sixties to the early eighties”.

Born Name

Steven Weinberg

Nick Name

Steven

Steven Weinberg as seen at the 2010 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas (Larry D. Moore / Wikimedia / CC BY 4.0 DEED)

Age

He was born on May 3, 1933.

Died

On July 23, 2021, Steven Weinberg died at the age of 88 in Austin, Texas, United States. He had been undergoing treatment for several weeks.

Resting Place

Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas, United States

Sun Sign

Taurus

Born Place

New York City, New York, United States

Nationality

Education

Steven Weinberg studied at the Bronx High School of Science (commonly called Bronx Science), a public specialized high school located in The Bronx in New York City. After graduating from Bronx Science in 1950, he enrolled at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1954.

He then attended the Niels Bohr Institute, a research institute of the University of Copenhagen. There, he started his graduate studies and research before shifting to Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey after a year. At Princeton, he completed his Ph.D. in physics in 1957 and completed his dissertation, “The role of strong interactions in decay processes”, under the supervision of Sam Treiman.

Occupation

Theoretical Physicist

Family

  • Father – Frederick (Worked as a court stenographer)
  • Mother – Eva (Israel) (Housewife)

Build

Average

From Left to Right – Paul Berg, Christian de Duve, Steven Weinberg, Queen Beatrix, Manfred Eigen, and Nicolaas Bloembergen pictured in 1983 (Croes, Rob C. for Anefo / Dutch National Archives / CC BY-SA 3.0 NL DEED)

Height

5 ft 10 in or 178 cm

Weight

77 kg or 169.5 lbs

Girlfriend / Spouse

Steven Weinberg dated –

  • Louise Goldwasser (1954-2021) – He got married to legal scholar Louise Goldwasser in the year 1954 and the duo was blessed with a daughter named Elizabeth. Louise is known for her writings on legal theory, due process, and choice of law as well as for her groundbreaking 1994 book, a 1200-page study on judicial federalism and judicial power.

    • Race / Ethnicity

    White

    Hair Color

    Gray

    Eye Color

    Dark Brown

    Sexual Orientation

    Straight

    Distinctive Features

    Receding hairline

    Religion

    Atheism

    He once stated, “The steady-state theory is philosophically the most attractive theory because it least resembles the account given in Genesis.”

    Steven Weinberg as seen while smiling for a picture in December 2014 (Betsythedevine / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)

    Steven Weinberg Facts

  • He was born to a Jewish immigrant couple.
  • He was 16 years old when one of his cousins handed him down a chemistry set which eventually got him interested in science.
  • During his time at the Bronx High School of Science, Weinberg was in the same graduating class as the future Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Sheldon Glashow, whose research, independent of Weinberg’s, resulted in their (and Abdus Salam’s) sharing the 1979 Nobel in physics.
  • White at Cornell University, he was a resident at the Telluride House (formally the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association (CBTA)).
  • Steven Weinberg was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the American Philosophical Society in 2004, with a citation that said he was “considered by many to be the preeminent theoretical physicist alive in the world today.”
  • He identified as a liberal.
  • Weinberg was a supporter of Israel and described it as “the ‘most exposed salient’ in a war between liberal democracies and Muslim theocracies.” His 1997 essay “Zionism and Its Adversaries” discusses the issue.
  • Due to the British boycotts of Israel, he canceled his trips to universities in the United Kingdom in the 2000s. Explaining the decision, he said, “Given the history of the attacks on Israel and the oppressiveness and aggressiveness of other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, boycotting Israel indicated a moral blindness for which it is hard to find any explanation other than antisemitism.”

    • Featured Image by Larry D. Moore / Wikimedia / CC BY 4.0 DEED

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