[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 91 (Tuesday, July 9, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN HONOR OF JOHN ARCHIBALD WHEELER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 9, 2002

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the occasion of the 91st 
birthday of John Archibald Wheeler, one of the preeminent figures in 
twentieth-century theoretical physics.
  John Wheeler was born on July 9, 1911 in Jacksonville, Florida. The 
son of librarians, John was an inquisitive child who started 
experimenting at an early age. At the age of sixteen, Wheeler entered 
Johns Hopkins University to study engineering. While studying at Johns 
Hopkins, Wheeler discovered a passion for physics and by 1933 had 
graduated with a Ph.D. in theoretical physics.
  In 1938, Wheeler joined the Physics Department at Princeton 
University, where he remained until 1976 when he moved to the 
University of Texas, Austin, to become the Director of the Center for 
Theoretical Physics. He now resides in New Jersey.
  Dr. Wheeler's contributions to the scientific community are numerous, 
as a scientist, a scholar, a mentor, and a teacher.
  He was the first American to learn of the discovery of nuclear 
fission and he later worked with his former mentor Niels Bohr to write 
an article on nuclear fission.
  He mentored and worked with future Nobel laureate Richard Feynman on 
a novel approach to electrodynamics.
  Dr. Wheeler led the theoretical development of the hydrogen bond in 
the United States and worked on the Manhattan Project.
  He worked with Albert Einstein and formulated new solutions to 
Einstein's gravitational equations.
  He pioneered studies on gravitational collapse and coined the term 
``black hole''.
  His many publications include the books ``Gravitation'' and 
``Frontiers of Time'' as well as his autobiography ``Geons, Black 
Holes, and Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics''.
  Dr. Wheeler's accomplishments have been recognized with many awards 
and honors. He served as president of the American Physical Society. He 
was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1952. Wheeler 
received the Albert Einstein Prize of the Strauss Foundation in 1965, 
the Enrico Fermi Award in 1968, the Franklin Medal of the Franklin 
Institute in 1969, and the National Medal of Science in 1971.
  Today, he is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Princeton University 
and the University of Texas, Austin.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend John Archibald Wheeler on the occasion of his 
91st birthday and for the contribution he has made to physics and 
American science.

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