John Archibald Wheeler (1911–2008) was an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to general relativity, quantum mechanics, and nuclear physics. One of the 20th century’s most influential physicists, he revived interest in Einstein’s general relativity and introduced concepts like black holes, wormholes, and quantum foam.
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Wheeler earned a PhD from Johns Hopkins University (1933.) He collaborated with Niels Bohr to explain nuclear fission, aiding atomic bomb development during World War II. In the early 1950s, he helped design the hydrogen bomb. He coined the term “black hole” in the 1960s and proposed “it from bit,” suggesting information is fundamental to physics. His research shaped quantum gravity and cosmology.
His notable publications include Gravitation (1973, co-authored with Charles Misner and Kip Thorne,) Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics (1998,) and Spacetime Physics (1963, co-authored with Edwin F. Taylor.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by John Archibald Wheeler
We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
—John Archibald Wheeler
Topics: Knowledge
Behind it all is surely an idea so simple, so beautiful so compelling that when-in a decade, a century, a millennium—we grasp it, we will say to each other, how could it have been otherwise? How can we have been so blind for so long?
—John Archibald Wheeler
Topics: Creation
Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
—John Archibald Wheeler
Topics: Time
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