Lawrence C. Biedenharn Jr, a well-known mathematical and theoretical nuclear physicist and James B. Duke Professor of Physics Emeritus, died on 12 February 1996 of cancer in Austin, Texas. He lived in Austin, Texas following his retirement from Duke University in 1993, and was adjunct professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin, a position he held until he died.
Biedenharn was born on 18 November 1922 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His undergraduate studies at MIT were interrupted by World War II, which he spent in the US Army Signal Corps and in completing his bachelor's degree in absentia. Returning to MIT in 1946, he concentrated on theoretical nuclear physics, receiving his PhD in 1949 under Victor Weisskopf.
His lifelong pursuit of symmetries in nuclear (and later particle) physics began with his early publications. He extended Eugene Wigner's definition of time reversal to the realm of relativistic quantum mechanics. His work with Blatt and Murray E. Rose on the use of the rotation group in the theory of nuclear reactions and angular correlations in nuclear decays culminated in two review articles published in Reviews of Modern Physics in 1952-53; among that journal's most frequently cited articles, the two reviews are still standard texts.
After leaving MIT, Biedenharn spent two years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 1952 he became an assistant professor at Yale University, where he began his work on Coulomb excitation of nuclei. In 1954 he joined the faculty of Rice University, where he became an associate professor in 1956. Five years later, he moved to Duke University as a full professor. His work on the excitation of nuclear states by electrostatic forces led to a classic textbook, Coulomb Excitation, which he coauthored with Peter J. Brussard (Oxford U. P., 1965).
Biedenharn's interest next brought his formidable talent to bear on the role of symmetry groups in quantum physics. He and his collaborators generalized the Wigner-Racah calculus of tensor representations for the angular momentum group to other continuous symmetry groups, especially the unitary groups that play an important role in the classification of elementary particle states. This work culminated in two monographs, written with James Louck, Angular Momentum in Quantum Physics and Racah-Wigner Algebra in Quantum Theory, which were published as part of the Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Its Applications (Addison-Wesley, 1981).
Biedenharn's significant contributions to group theoretical methods in physics led to his worldwide recognition as one of the foremost leaders in modern theoretical physics. His research had a significant impact on both nuclear physics and condensed matter physics.
From 1985 until he retired from Duke in 1993, Biedenharn was the editor of the Journal of Mathematical Physics. In 1989 he published a widely-cited paper about the quantum group SUq(2) in which he introduced the q-analog of the algebra of boson operators. In the following years, he contributed significantly to the popularization of the mathematics of quantum groups for theoretical physicists. His Quantum Group Symmetry and q-Tensor Algebras (World Scientific, 1995), coauthored with Max Lohe, appeared only a few months before he died.
Biedenharn was known to his colleagues and his many students as a man of erudition and manifold interests, which penetrated virtually every aspect of human life. His scientific productivity kept a steady pace throughout the years and even accelerated toward the end of his career.
He had a great love for music and was a devotee of chamber music in particular. His keen intellect will be remembered by his colleagues and coworkers.
Edward G. Bilpuch
Horst Meyer
Berndt Muller
Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina
The following obituary, based on material supplied by Stephen C. Milne, appeared on the pages of the SIAM Activity Group on Orthogonal Polynomials and Special Functions.
Lawrence C. Biedenharn Jr., 73, a longtime member of Duke University's physics faculty and an internationally known researcher in theoretical physics, died Monday, Feb. 12, in Austin, Texas, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He had made his home in Texas in recent years.
Biedenharn became the youngest full professor on the Duke faculty -- at age 38 -- when he was appointed in 1961. He remained at Duke until 1993, when he retired as James B. Duke professor of physics and subsequently moved to the University of Texas at Austin as adjunct professor. A native of Vicksburg, Miss., he received both his bachelor's degree and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served in World War II as a Signal Corps officer and later on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Japan.
Serving on the faculties of Yale University and Rice University before coming to Duke, he published six books and hundreds of research articles in the fields of nuclear physics and later mathematical physics. He also edited the Journal of Mathematical Physics for many years.
Biedenharn, Holman, and Louck showed how the classical work on ordinary hypergeometric series is intimately related to the irreducible representations of the compact group SU(2). Similarly, they found U(n) multiple series generalizations of one-variable hypergeometric summation and transformation theorems by comparing two ways of computing the matrix elements of multiplicity free Wigner and Racah coefficients in U(n). This work was done in the context of the quantum theory of angular momentum and the special unitary groups SU(n). This work motivated the far-reaching q-analogs that Milne, Gustafson, and their co-workers subsequently found. Applications of this later work include unified proofs of the Macdonald identities, constant term identities, multiple q-beta integrals, U(n+1) and symplectic generalizations of the Bailey Transform and Bailey Lemma, classical matrix inversion results, numerous classical summation and transformation theorems for one-variable q-series, Rogers-Ramanujan identities, and, finally, new infinite families of identities for sums of squares in classical number theory.
His book about Quantum Group Symmetry and q-tensor Algebras, jointly written with M.A. Lohe, appeared in 1995; see World Scientific. Biedenharn's work continues to motivate much of this recent research in multivariable orthogonal polynomials, special functions, and their applications.
Lawrence C. Biedenharn is survived by his wife of 45 years, Sarah; his son John; daughter Sally; and two grandchildren.
(from The Chronicle, The Independent Daily at Duke University, Thursday February 15, 1996)
After several years of fighting a battle with cancer, a former faculty member of the physics department and an internationally known researcher in theoretical physics passed away Monday in his hometown of Austin, Texas.
Lawrence Biedenharn Jr., 73, was appointed to the physics department in 1961, and left the University in 1993 as a James B. Duke professor of physics. Those who knew and worked closely with him praise the attention he gave to his field of research.
"He was a very distinguished scientist. He was a very distinguished theorist," said Horst Meyer, Fritz London professor of physics, who has known Biedenharn since 1961. "I think he was quite business-like. Physics was very much up on his mind."
Upon his arrival 35 years ago, Biedenharn became the youngest full professor on the entire University faculty at the age of 38. Larry Evans, chair of the physics department, said Biedenharn always set high standards for his work.
Biedenharn received his bachelor's degree and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and prior to his arrival at Duke, was a faculty member of both Yale and Rice University. He published six books and hundreds of research articles, and also edited for the Journal of Mathematical Physics.
He served as a Signal Corps officer in World War II and on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Japan.
He is survived by his wife Sarah, his son John, daughter Sally and two grandchildren.
There will be a memorial service at 2 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin, and contributions may be sent to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston, Texas.