Most Influential Physics PhD Thesis?

[Hornbein]

Eight possibilities.



Elsewhere she says that Marie Curie's thesis is literally radioactive.

I'd vote for Bernhard Riemann's 1854 thesis which introduced the manifold concept. It was math but is the foundation of many modern theories in physics so I say it's close enough.

 

[pinball1970]

Louis De Broglie? Predates Dirac.

 

[pinball1970]

Did Stephen Hawking say his own thesis was wrong? A brief History of Time IIRC?

Anyway his Doctoral thesis was 1966 and a big deal was made of it in pop sci culture, I am not sure how modern cosmologists view this work today.

 

[Hornbein]

Louis De Broglie? Predates Dirac.

Seems like a good choice.

 

[Hornbein]

Did Stephen Hawking say his own thesis was wrong? A brief History of Time IIRC?

Anyway his Doctoral thesis was 1966 and a big deal was made of it in pop sci culture, I am not sure how modern cosmologists view this work today.

He showed that the Steady State theory was wrong. That would be pretty influential. Though maybe Friedmann and Lemaitre beat him to it. I dunno.

 

[pinball1970]

He showed that the Steady State theory was wrong

Don't know. In the film (Cumberbatch not the other one) he challenged Hoyle on steady state in a presentation before he completed his PhD.
I think the evidence was stacking up for an expanding universe well before 1966. Penzias and Wilson was around that time? Pigeon droppings/CMBR?

No one has mentioned Feynman's, Principle of Least action yet.

 

[marcusl]

How about Brian Josephson? He had a big impact on practical measurements, especially weak magnetic fields, and on international standards (the volt, for example).

 

[Hornbein]

Don't know. In the film (Cumberbatch not the other one) he challenged Hoyle on steady state in a presentation before he completed his PhD.
I think the evidence was stacking up for an expanding universe well before 1966. Penzias and Wilson was around that time? Pigeon droppings/CMBR?

No one has mentioned Feynman's, Principle of Least action yet.

Fermat invented the principle of least action. Feynman's thesis was a far out idea about waves coming from the future.