(Particle physicists explore the microworld of the atom; c...)
Particle physicists explore the microworld of the atom; cosmologists study the universe on a grand scale. From Quarks to the Cosmos follows the dramatic merger of these fields as they seek to define the connections among all structures, great and small - the so-called 'theory of everything'.
Shadows of Creation: Dark Matter and the Structure of the Universe
(Explores recent research into dark matter and its impact ...)
Explores recent research into dark matter and its impact on the composition of the universe and the motions of galaxies, and describes efforts to determine what dark matter might be.
The Big Bang and Other Explosions in Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics
(This volume of important papers by one the world's leadin...)
This volume of important papers by one the world's leading astrophysicists provides a sweeping survey of the incisive and exciting applications of nuclear and particle physics to a wide range of problems in astrophysics and cosmology.
David Norman Schramm was an American astrophysicist, educator, author and one of the world's foremost experts on the Big Bang theory.
Background
David Norman Schramm was born on October 25, 1945, in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States. He was the son of Marvin, a World War II veteran of the Army Air Force who worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Betty who was director of the St. Louis County Library.
Education
A Greco-Roman wrestler in college, Schramm graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967 and received his doctorate in physics in 1971 from the California Institute of Technology, where he was also a postdoctoral fellow until 1972.
After a brief time as faculty at the University of Texas at Austin from 1971 to 1974, Schramm accepted the position of an associate professor in astronomy and astrophysics at the Enrico Fermi Institute. He was promoted to full professor in 1977 and served as chairman of astronomy and astrophysics from 1977 to 1984. He was also chairman of the board on physics and astronomy of the National Research Council from 1989 to 1997 and a visiting professor and guest-lecturer at Macalester College of the University of Utah, Stanford.
Schramm, an avid private pilot, died on 19 December 1997, when his Swearingen-Fairchild SA-226 crashed near Denver, Colorado. He was the sole occupant of the aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board found the cause to be pilot error. At the time of his death, he was Vice President for Research and Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor in the Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago.
(Particle physicists explore the microworld of the atom; c...)
1989
Membership
Schramm was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1986.
National Academy of Sciences
,
United States
1986 - 1997
Personality
Schramm had the self-confidence of a champion athlete in everything he did. Some even mistook this self-confidence for hubris or even recklessness. However, famous for his toughness on the playing field or while climbing mountains, he had a lifelong phobia of hospitals, needles, and blood.
Physical Characteristics:
Schramm's large presence in space went beyond his 6-foot, 4-inch, 240-pound frame and bright red hair.
Connections
Before going off to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Schramm married his high school sweetheart Melinda Holzhauer, and his first son, David Cary, was born during his freshman year. Shortly after he arrived at Caltech as a graduate student in physics in 1967, his second son, Derik Brett, was born.
David married second time Judith Jane Zielinski, Leon Lederman’s director’s assistant, in Aspen on June 20, 1986. In the years that followed, David and Judy spent more time in their Aspen home, and it became the preferred location for family get-togethers that included David’s two sons, Cary and Brett, and Judy’s children, Tegan, Eric, Laura, and Amy.