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Islands of Knowledge, Shores of Ignorance: The Life of John Archibald Wheeler

By: Jesse Harter Instructor: Roy Chaney Late American History MW 1 23 April 2010

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Physics, the science of matter and energy, reigns over everything and everyone in existence, regardless of how massive or minute. Some people choose to dedicate their lives to understanding this complex science. We call these people physicists, and they are frequently the greatest minds of their eras, often changing how we perceive the universe around us. One such man was John Archibald Wheeler, a highly influential physicist who was largely responsible for the popularization of modern physics. John Wheeler came into the world on July 9, 1911, in Jacksonville, Florida. This was the beginning of a life that, with a career spanning eight decades, would act as a catalyst to the revolutionizing of a subject. Wheeler had an inquisitive nature, questioning his mother about the universe when he was four (Johnson 1). Later, as a child, he read the Outline of Science by J. Arthur Thompson (1). These are some of the earliest examples of his interest in the world of science, a subject that would shape his life, as he in turn forever changed it. Regardless, he could not avoid the inevitability of death, which came to him on April 13, 2008 due to pneumonia. Wheelers fascination with the scientific world led him to pursue a career in physics. After graduating from Baltimore City College, a college preparatory high school, in 1926, he set out to receive a higher education. He attended John Hopkins University where he graduated in 1933, receiving a doctorate in physics with a dissertation on the dispersion and absorption of helium under the supervision of Karl Herzfeld (Johnson 2). He then chose to do a post-doctoral study with Gregory Breit at New York University, rather than study with Oppenheimer as was common for theoretical physicists at this time (Thorne 220). He felt that they were a better suited to cooperation due to the similarities in their personalities. However, his immense hunger for knowledge was still not satiated. In that same year, Wheeler ventured to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, to study with Niels Bohr, the physics giant (Johnson 2). Yet, his educational

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interests extended beyond learning, he was also a teacher, placing a heavy emphasis on passing down knowledge. Throughout his life he believed that the young minds were the most important, teaching freshman physics even after he gained prominence. Briefly, he taught at the University of North Carolina. Afterwards, he became a professor at Princeton University, where he taught throughout the majority of his life (Thorne 220). While teaching at Princeton, Wheeler was a significant figure for his involvement in the revival of general relativity in America. General relativity is a theory in physics dealing with gravitation that had, for decades, been considered deserving of minimal respect. His and his students work would lead to the golden age of general relativity, with help from two other leading physicists, Sciama and Zeldovich, who revived the subject in other areas of the world. Later, he taught at the University of Texas in Austin. All through his extensive and prolific career, Wheeler addressed many of the times greatest enigmas, both alone and in cooperation with other great minds of the time. He began his career with a bang, a great ferocity, devouring material and treading where others were weary. One such opportunity for a stroll through a controversial topic presented itself to Wheeler during World War Two. The war had begun to amass a copious toll on life, and the world needed a means with which to end it. Wheeler joined others in a collaborative effort to do just this. Consulting with Bohr and Oppenheimer, he voyaged to Hanford, Washington, to consult with engineers for the designing of the plutonium producing reactors that would supply the vital element to the atomic bombs used on Japan in 1945 (Johnson 1-2). However, this was not when Wheeler first approached nuclear physics. In 1939, Bohr visited Princeton, where he and Wheeler expounded the liquid drop model of nuclear fission theory (Thorne 220). Their theory would be crucial in making the atomic bombs a reality. Later, John Wheeler partook in yet

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another highly controversial weapons building operation. In the early 1950s, he assisted Teller in producing the first hydrogen bomb (Johnson 2). Despite his participation in such projects, he was definitely not a violent man, rather one of compassion and general acceptance. However, he did not regret being a part of the endeavors; he admitted that his only remorse was that he had not been able to accelerate the development of the original atomic bombs. He thought that, had he been able to, much bloodshed would have been preventable. He also believed that had he succeeded in hastening the development, he may have been able to prevent the death of his brother Joe, who was killed in 1944 in combat in Italy (Overbye 1). Seeming to tire of matters related to death and violence, Wheeler, in middle age, turned to addressing assorted problems of cosmology. As he began to concentrate on the issues of the cosmos, Wheeler described the vacuum of space as a region free of matter, but not free of field (qtd. in Cole 74). Using this, he described how field acts as the bridge between matter and empty space. He then used it to explain that space-time tells matter how to move and matter tells space-time how to curve (qtd. in Halpern 89). Both of these ideas of his, along with many others, contributed to humanitys understanding of the universe. Another contribution we can accredit to Wheeler is the scattering matrix, commonly referred to as the s-matrix, which he first used in 1937. The scattering matrix is an essential part of particle physics, serving to relate initial and final states of physical systems. Also, he majorly contributed to physics in his coining of terms. In creating and popularizing simple, effective terms, he made it easier for others to understand the phenomena. These terms include: black hole which is a gravitationally completely collapsed object, quantum foam the world of the very small in which ordinary laws of physics break down such as in the singularity that is present in a black hole, wormhole which is essentially a shortcut through

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space -time, and geon a ball of light held together by its own gravity (Johnson 3). Black hole, his most commonly recognized word, was first used in the fall of 1967 at a conference in New York City (Thorne 256). This occurred after a suggestion from an audience member. The term was less awkward to say, described the anomalys appearance, since nothing could escape its gravity, and helped to pull physics into a more mainstream view. Wormhole, another term of his, was first used in 1957, although the wormhole theory had been present since 1921. Wheelers terms not only aided in transitioning physics into a more conventional field, but they also had a heavy influence on both the subject and the physicists who studied it. In pursuit of the cosmos questions, Wheeler paved the way for future physicists. Johnson points out that he made it possible for them to undertake attempts at solving similar puzzles without having to worry about being shunned (1). Wheeler himself took the risk of being turned out by the scientific community in order to aid future generations, both those who study physics and those who benefit from the advancements made due to this study. His discoveries and input made the world of physics tantamount to surreal. This was especially true for the numerous science-fiction fans who reveled in the thought of exploring deep space and unearthing an abundance of mysteries. Thus he inadvertently became a hero, inspiring an interest in physics in many people who would have otherwise pursued other subjects. It is often said that John Wheeler nurtured the careers of a new generation of physicists (1). Some of his graduate students, who doubtless benefited through his teaching, were Kip Thorne, Richard Feynman, and Hugh Everett III. Kip Thorne is a well known physicist who contributed greatly to astrophysics and gravitation physics; he is probably most renowned for his theorization that wormholes could be used for time travel. Richard Feynman is another distinguished physicist who worked on his Ph.D. thesis under Wheeler. Wheelers subsequent

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suggestion, which at the time sounded crazy, led Feynman to do work that would lead to him winning a Nobel Prize. Hugh Everett III, as suspected, is also a physicist. He was the first to propose a many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics; which was shunned at the time, but later came to be accepted by more people and gain fame. Through this cultivation, Wheeler not only was able to impact physics directly, through his major contributions, but also indirectly by exerting sway over what future physicists would investigate. Through his accomplishments, he has been able to shape not just one part of physics, but numerous aspects over a range of topics, the effects of which are felt even to this day; something claimable only by a handful of individuals. By styling physics into something that was more appealing to a wider audience, Wheeler was able to popularize it. He brought physics to the public, rather than trying to force the public to go to physics. He left behind a legacy of 13 books and hundreds of articles, numerous of which are still read and continue to influence people to this day. Also, he was presented with several prestigious awards, such as the Einstein Prize, National Medal of Science, Niels Bohr International Gold Medal, and the Enrico Fermi Award, which was presented to him by President Lyndon B. Johnson (Johnson 4). However, he was also officially reprimanded by a different president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, after he lost a classified document on a train while partaking in work for the government (Overbye 1). His lifes work, with its copious adventures into the strange and unheard of, making them understandable, has inspired a new worldwide wave of physicists that seek to venture where others have not, where others had previously dared not. Wheeler was the sort of man who liked to say such things as, If you havent found something strange during the day, it hasnt been much of a day, and We live on an island of knowledge, surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the

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shore of our ignorance (qtd. in John). These quotes speak volumes about his character and general life philosophy. It is safe to assume from these quotes that he would not have been satisfied with his day unless he had uncovered something new and peculiar. Also, they reflect his understanding that the more people learn, the more questions that arise; that for every new discovery, we must question an abundance of new things. Thus we can make the assumption that Wheeler was a man who believed that it was impossible for mankind to uncover everything there is to know about the universe. Reportedly, Wheeler also made the remark, I can learn only by teaching. It is reasonable to presume that he did say this, considering his beliefs about teaching. This demonstrates that he valued the insight and varying viewpoints that the diverse array of students he taught could provide him, and that he was open minded enough to not only pour information out at students, but to stop and take note of what they thought, and to consequently allow the student to become the teacher. Regardless of his numerous contributions to science, and the world at large, John Wheeler is not an extremely well known man. He is, generally speaking, only familiar to the scientific community, especially physicists, who he is often admired by. This is not very befitting of a man who took part in, and made possible, the construction of some of the worlds deadliest weapons, participated significantly in the revival of various subdivisions of physics, debated with some of the most prominent scientific figures of the century, coined numerous words that are common nowadays, and placed education as a top priority, guiding a great many physicists to greatness. Wheeler is deserving of a wider recognition; at the very least, being mentioned at some point in history books such as various other scientists are. Excelling at all he pursued and still maintaining an air of modesty, John Wheeler is a man whose life and teachings could act to benefit, or perhaps even inspire, anyone both now and in the countless ages to come.

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Works Cited Cole, K.C. The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything. New York: Harcourt, 2001. Print. Halpern, Paul. The Great Beyond Higher Dimensions, Parallel Universes and the Extraordinary Search for a Theory of Everything. New York: Wiley, 2004. Print. John Archibald Wheeler." Expert Archive Questions. AllExperts. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. <http://en.allexperts.com/e/j/jo/john_archibald_wheeler.htm>. Johnson Jr, John. "Major figure in 20th century physics." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2008. Web. 4 Feb. 2010. <http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/15/local/me-wheeler15?pg=1>. Overbye, Dennis. "John A. Wheeler, Physicist Who Coined the Term Black Hole, Is Dead at 96." New York Times. The New York Times Company, 14 Apr. 2008. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/science/14wheeler.html>. Thorne, Kip S. Black Holes and Time Warps Einstein's Outrageous Legacy (Commonwealth Fund Book Program). Boston: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995. Print.