American physicist Julian Schwinger worked primarily to develop a quantum theory of radiation. As a theorist, he produced mathematical frameworks that showed the relationships between charged particles and electromagnetic fields, and his equations eventually united relativity and quantum theory. In recognition of this work, Schwinger received the National Medal of Science in 1964 and the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965, which he shared with American theoretical physicist Richard P. Feynman and Japanese physicist Sin-Itiro Tomonaga .

Julian Seymour Schwinger was born on February 12, 1918, in the Jewish Harlem section of New York City. His father was Benjamin Schwinger, a garment manufacturer, and his mother was Belle (Rosenfeld) Schwinger. Julian was the younger of two brothers. As a child, Schwinger had an insatiable appetite for science. He became interested by reading popular scientific magazines. When he entered high school, he had already decided to study physics. He had read all that the...