J. D. Jackson

"This page is on the physicist. For the boxer see John David Jackson (boxer). For the basketball players see J. D. Jackson (basketball)." Infobox Scientist
name = John David Jackson


caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1925|01|19
birth_place = London, Ontario, Canada
death_date =
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residence =
nationality= CAN
work_institution = MIT
McGill University
University of Illinois
University of California, Berkeley
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
alma_mater = University of Western Ontario
MIT
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
field = Physicist
prizes =
religion =
footnotes =

John David Jackson (born January 19, 1925) is a Canadian-American physics professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and a senior staff physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and is well-known for his publication of the most widely used graduate textbook on classical electrodynamics.

Born in London, Ontario, Canada, Jackson attended the University of Western Ontario, receiving a B.Sc. in physics in 1946. He went on to graduate study at MIT, where he worked under Victor Weisskopf. Jackson was awarded his Ph.D. in 1949.

After receiving his doctorate, Jackson stayed on at MIT for six months and then moved on McGill University in 1950. At McGill, Jackson was a member of the mathematics department, rising to the rank of associate professor.

Jackson left McGill in 1957 and joined the physics faculty of the University of Illinois. He stayed there for ten years, until 1967, when he started working at the University of California, Berkeley.

At Berkeley, Jackson held appointments with both the physics department and with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He became a professor emeritus in 1992, but continues his work both at the university and with Lawrence Berkeley. Jackson is also a fellow of the American Physical Society and is an active member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The name Jackson is infamous amongst physics graduate students who are, at many institutions, required to take an advanced course in theoretical electrodynamics taught out of J. D. Jackson's text Classical Electrodynamics. The course is well-known for its difficult homework problems and is referred to simply as “Jackson” in the field of physics. Many physicists who do not directly pursue research in the field of theoretical electrodynamics regard the Jackson course as a rite of passage in obtaining a Ph.D.

Selected works

*cite book | author=Jackson, John David | title=Classical Electrodynamics | edition=3rd ed. | location=New York | publisher=Wiley | year=1999 | id=ISBN 0-471-30932-X

External links

* [http://www-theory.lbl.gov/jdj/ Dr. Jackson's website]