James "BJ" Bjorken, 1934-2024

SLAC Professor (Emeritus)

Biographical and Professional Information

• B.S. MIT, 1956
• Ph.D., Physics, Stanford University, 1959
• Stanford University
  • Research Associate, Assistant Professor 1959-1962
  • Associate Professor, Professor, SLAC 1962-1979
  • Theoretical Physicist, 1989=1998
  • Professor Emeritus, 1998-2024
• Theoretical Physicist, Associate Director for Physics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 1979-1989
• BJ Physics Notes (personal website)
• American Institute of Physics biography, Physics History Network
• Bjorken Scaling, Scholarpedia
• Bjorken Wikipedia entry
• SLAC Obituary
• New York Times Obituary
• Symposium of the 50th Anniversary of the November Revolution, November 8, 2024
• Remembering Bj: A symposium in Honor of James Bjorken, November 9, 2024

Awards and Honors 

•  Dannie Heinemann Prize in Mathematical Physics of the American      Physical Society,  1972      
• Ernest Orlando Lawrence Medal, awarded by the Department of Energy      for research in theoretical physics, 1977    
• Honorary Doctorate, University of Torino      
• Eastman Professor, Oxford University, 1995-1996
• Dirac Medal 2004
•  National Academy of Sciences, 1973     
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences      
• Foreign Member, Swedish Academy of Sciences

Publications

• J.D. Bjorken, S. Drell (1964). Relativistic Quantum Mechanics. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-005493-2.
• J.D. Bjorken, S. Drell (1965). Relativistic Quantum Fields. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-005494-0.
• James Bjorken, "Deep-Inelastic Scattering: From Current Algebra to Partons," in The Rise of the Standard Model: Particle Physics in the 1960s and 1970s, ed. Lillian Hoddeson, Laurie Brown, Michael Riordan, and Max Dresden (New York: Cambridge University Press: 1997), 589-599
• J. D. Bjorken (2003). In Conclusion: A Collection of Summary Talks in High Energy Physics. World Scientific. ISBN 981-02-3869-X.
• Guest Editorial SLAC Beamline, Fall 1995
• The November Revolution: A Theorist Remembers. SLAC Beam Line, July 1985
• Other publications and papers can be found here (inSPIRE)

Archival Materials

James D. Bjorken papers held by the SLAC Archives, History & Records Office are currently being processed, and are not yet open for research. SLAC staff may access descriptions of his papers by clicking this link and entering his last name in the search box at the upper right on that page.  

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