Two Ugly Men in Physics

they are like beasts (without culture)

Arthur Wightman and Louis Michel

• Arthur Wightman and Louis Michel were two of the most respected mathematical physicists during the latter half of the 20th Century. Their names were mentioned in the English version of Wigner's book entitled "Group Theory and Atomic Spectra."

  However, they did not know they were not big enough to say "any paper is wrong" without providing proof.

• When I was a student at Princeton (1961), I was in Wightman's class on the Lorentz group, where he gave lectures based on Wigners's 1939 paper on the same subject.

• Louis Michel visited the University of Maryland in 1970 for one semester giving lectures on Wigner's 1939 paper. I attended all of his lectures, and I organized a small dinner meeting honoring him.

  From their point of view, I had to get their permissions before approaching Wigner. From my point of view, I met Wigner while I was a student at Princeton, and I used to talk with him on various issues. I did not feel I needed permissions from anyone for contacting Wigner.

• While I was a student at Princeton, I enjoyed talking with Wigner, on various issues including the communist threats from the Soviet Union. He came from Hungary, and I came from Korea. We did not like what Soviet communists did to Hungary and to Korea.

  Needless to say, my most important conversation with Wigner was on his 1939 paper on the Lorentz group.

• As soon as I started publishing papers with Wigner in 1987, Michel and Wightman started behaving like King Herod:
  Wigner was theirs. How can anyone other than themselves publish papers with him? This person should be eliminated.

  Wightman was unhappy with this table:

  Contents of Einstein's E = mc2 Particle Massive/Slow between Massless/Fast

  Einstein Energy Momentum E = p2/2m E = [m2c4 + (cp)2]1/2 E = cp

  Wigner Helicity Spin, Gauge S3 S1 S2 Wigner's 1939 paper Helicity Gauge Trans.

  included in a paper I published with my younger colleagues in 1986.

• Wightman told me this table is incorrect. Since his office and Wigner's office were in the same physics building on the campus of Princeton University, Wightmsn must have told the same story to Wigner, but Wigner stood with me.

  Wigner understood this table, while Wightman did not. Wigner was very happy with me because this table tells his coordinate in Einstein's scientific genealogy.

  Wightman knew me well. Before telling anyone this table is wrong, he should have asked me to explain how I arrived at this table. He thought this table would become wrong if he stamped so. He was not a civilized person.

• Louis Michel was a highly respected French mathematical physicist, and I was always polite to him when I met him. I even organized a small party honoring him when he visited the University of Maryland. However, it was totally unacceptable to him when I was publishing papers with Wigner without his permission.

  He wrote a letter to the president of my university to fire me because I was publishing wrong papers with Wigner. However, the president was very happy with me because Wigner was visiting the University at my invitation. Michel's letter became a big joke not only to me but also to the president of my university.

• Michel and Wightman thought the above table was wrong because their names were not there.

  They did not know about themselves.
  They were famous, but not wise enough to hide
  their lack of competence.

• Furthermore, they were more than 10 years older than I was. They grew up in the Western world where the people with non-white skins appeared inferior. This kind of mentality still exists in the academic world, perhaps to lesser extent.

  It is very safe to say that Michel and Wightman were the victims of their own outdated racism.