Hugh David Politzer

American theoretical physicist

Born: August 31, 1949

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Overview

Legacy

His parents escaped to England from Czechoslovakia in 1939 and immigrated to the U.S.

Who is Hugh David Politzer?

Hugh David Politzer (; born August 31, 1949) is an American theoretical physicist. Politzer was born in New York City. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1966, received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Michigan in 1969, and his PhD in 1974 from Harvard University, where his graduate advisor was Sidney Coleman. He is the Richard Chace Tolman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology. His parents escaped to England from Czechoslovakia in 1939 and immigrated to the U.S. after World War II. When quarks are in extreme proximity, the nuclear force between them is so weak that they behave almost like free particles.

Historical significance

He shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics with David Gross and Frank Wilczek "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction". In his first published article, which appeared in 1973, Politzer described the phenomenon of asymptotic freedom: the closer quarks are to each other, the weaker the strong interaction will be between them.

Sources and further reading

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Wikipedia source

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MLA

“Hugh David Politzer.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/hugh-david-politzer/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

APA

Hugh David Politzer. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/hugh-david-politzer/

Chicago

“Hugh David Politzer.” thisDay. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/hugh-david-politzer/.

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