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Gerard 't Hooft
November 2008
Born	July 5, 1946 (1946-07-05) (age 63) Den Helder, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Fields	Theoretical physics
Institutions	Utrecht University
Alma mater	Utrecht University
Doctoral advisor	Martinus J. G. Veltman
Doctoral students	Robbert Dijkgraaf and Herman Verlinde
Known for	Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Gravity
Notable awards	Wolf Prize (1981) Lorentz Medal (1986) Spinozapremie (1995) Nobel Prize in Physics (1999)

Gerardus (Gerard) 't Hooft (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌɣeːrɑrt ət ˈhoːft]) (born July 5, 1946, Den Helder, Netherlands) is a theoretical physicist at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with Martinus J. G. Veltman "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions". Asteroid 9491 Thooft is named in his honor; he has written a constitution for its future inhabitants. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1986 and the Spinozapremie in 1995. Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Frits Zernike was his great-uncle.^[1]

He is married to Albertha Schik (Betteke) and has two daughters, Saskia and Ellen. Saskia has translated one of her father's popular Dutch fiction books 'Planetenbiljart' into English. The book's title is 'Playing with Planets' and was launched in Singapore in November 2008.

Important work

• A proof that gauge theories are renormalizable
• Other results about gauge theory, confinement, and anomalies
• 't Hooft was the first to realise that gauge theories simplify in the large N limit. He solved the theory in 1+1 dimensions, discovering an equation for the meson masses.^[2] This topological expansion of large N gauge theories has proved important in the AdS/CFT correspondence in string theory
• 't Hooft magnetic loop (related to Wilson loop by S-duality)
• Instanton contributions to interactions of fermions ('t Hooft interaction)
• Holographic principle (with Leonard Susskind) and other proposals about quantum gravity
• Recent attempts to revive hidden variables in quantum mechanics

See also

• 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole
• 't Hooft operator
• 't Hooft symbol

References

External links

• Gerard 't Hooft (homepage)
  • How To Become a Good Theoretical Physicist
• The Nobel Prize in Physics 1999
• A Confrontation with Infinity, Nobel Lecture
• Publications from Google Scholar
• Publications on the Arxiv

From Wikiquote

Gerardus 't Hooft (born July 5, 1946) is a professor in theoretical physics at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with Martinus J. G. Veltman "for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions".

Sourced

• If you really want to contribute to our theoretical understanding of physical laws - and it is an exciting experience if you succeed! - there are many things you need to know. First of all, be serious about it!
  • in How to become a good theoretical physicist.

External links

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Gerardus 't Hooft