Joseph Polchinski (1954–2018)

Only after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer did superstring theorist Polchinski (1954-2018) dictate this remarkable career memoir. Detailing his research collaborations with innumerable colleagues, postdoctoral fellows, and students, he moves through his sojourns at Caltech, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Texas, and finally the Kavli Institute at UC Santa Barbara, where his much-noted work on D-branes was done. Editor Almheiri has contributed many boxed summaries of technicalities, a few of the footnotes, and a large addendum of bibliographical notes and references. Only experts in the latest fundamental physics theories will understand most of the book's details, but the rest of us can enjoy its overall impression of what top-tier work in the field is like.… (meer)