Abstract
This lightly edited transcript of my 2006 lecture at the Erice “J.A.Wheeler” school introduces Wheeler by describing him from several different viewpoints. There is brief mention of his early work on nuclear physics and its military applications as well as Wheeler’s attitude toward defense work. Also, just briefly, his Texas efforts to probe the foundations of quantum mechanics are mentioned. Considerable attention is given to his methods of working, and to his relationship with students and their reactions to him. A further section describes his push to bring general relativity into the main stream of physics and the influence this had on the development of black hole ideas and on the study of gravitationalwaves.
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Misner, C. (2010). John Wheeler and the Recertification of General Relativity as True Physics. In: Ciufolini, I., Matzner, R. (eds) General Relativity and John Archibald Wheeler. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 367. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3735-0_2
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