James Cronin
James Watson Cronin (September 29, 1931 – August 25, 2016) was an American particle physicist.
James Cronin | |
|---|---|
Cronin at the 2010 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting | |
| Born | James Watson Cronin September 29, 1931 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 25, 2016 (aged 84) Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Southern Methodist University University of Chicago |
| Known for | Nuclear physics |
| Spouse |
Annette Martin (m. 1954) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | E. O. Lawrence Award (1976) Nobel Prize in Physics (1980) John Price Wetherill Medal National Medal of Science |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of Chicago University of Utah |
Cronin and co-researcher Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment that proved that certain subatomic reactions do not adhere to fundamental symmetry principles. Specifically, they proved, by examining the decay of kaons, that a reaction run in reverse does not merely retrace the path of the original reaction, which showed that the interactions of subatomic particles are not invariant under time reversal. Thus the phenomenon of CP violation was discovered.
Cronin received the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award in 1976 for major experimental contributions to particle physics including fundamental work on weak interactions culminating in the discovery of asymmetry under time reversal. In 1999, he was awarded the National Medal of Science.
Cronin was Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago winning the prestigious Quantrell Award and a spokesperson emeritus for the Auger project. He was a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.