Physicist Steven Weinberg, who was born in 1933, died on July 23, 2021.
He was arguably the dominant figure in theoretical particle physics during its period of great success from the late sixties to the early eighties. In particular, his 1967 work on unification of the weak and electromagnetic interactions was a huge breakthrough, and remains to this day at the center of the Standard Model, our best understanding of fundamental physics.
From Not Even Wrong.
Science News has another nice obituary for him.
Hi David, When did "has passed" start replacing "has died"? To me it seems like in the last ten years. Does it seem softer... less pain causing?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Guy
I'm Andrew, but I don't know when it happened. The term "has passed" is very old (certainly going back to the 1700s at least). But I imagine that the usage frequency and contexts has ebbed and flowed over time. I'm certainly not terribly consistent in my usage on that point.
ReplyDeleteIn my day job, I am part of "Team Death" as a lawyer who does probate work, and this seems to be something that people tend to be more comfortable with in my circumstances. I've never really given it much thought.
Lolz, Sorry about that Andrew. I must have just come from David's blog!
ReplyDelete