Epstein Secrets

for all sensible quantum field theories, except for Yang-Mills-type gauge theories. Gross now took on a new graduate student, twenty-one-year-old Frank Wilczek, who had come to Princeton from the University of Chi- cago planning to study mathematics, but who switched to physics after taking Gross's graduate

her lucky or astute because he served as the graduate supervisor of probably the two most remarkable intellects among physi- cists in my generation, Wilczek and Edward Witten, who helped lead the string theory revolution in the 198os and '9os and who is the only physicist ever to win the prestigious Fie

ry. However, Gross and Wilczek recognized the natural candidate was the Yang-Mills theory that Greenberg and others had posited was neces- sary for Gell-Mann's quark hypothesis to explain the observed nature of elementary particles. In this theory each quark carries one of three 2P_Glealer-StoryEverTold_At

pointlike particles. Feynman then interpreted these objects as real particles, which he dubbed partons, and suggested they could be identified with Gell-Mann's quarks. This picture had a big problem, however. If all strongly interact- ing particles were composed of quarks, then quarks should surely be stro

umans; and the M.I.T. theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, a Nobel laureate. The lure for some of the scie

Church, a molecular engineer who has worked to identify genes that could be altered to create superior humans; and the M.I.T. theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, a Nobel laureate. The lure for some of the scientists was Mr. Epstein's money. He dangled financing for their pet projects. Some of the scientists

ended the dinner, was quoted as saying. Mr. Dubno told The Times that he did not recall the dinner or having said those words. Mr. Brockman was Mr. Gell-Mann's agent, and Mr. Gell-Mann, in the acknowledgments section of his 1995 book "The Quark and the Jaguar," thanked Mr. Epstein for his financial support.

umans; and the M.I.T. theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, a Nobel laureate. The lure for some of the scie

Church, a molecular engineer who has worked to identify genes that could be altered to create superior humans; and the M.I.T. theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, a Nobel laureate. The lure for some of the scientists was Mr. Epstein's money. He dangled financing for their pet projects. Some of the scientists

ended the dinner, was quoted as saying. Mr. Dubno told The Times that he did not recall the dinner or having said those words. Mr. Brockman was Mr. Gell-Mann's agent, and Mr. Gell-Mann, in the acknowledgments section of his 1995 book "The Quark and the Jaguar," thanked Mr. Epstein for his financial support.