physics

Peter J. Weinberger

Peter J. Weinberger is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter J. Weinberger rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Jay Weinberger (born August 6, 1942) is a computer scientist best known for his early work at Bell Labs. He now works at Google.

Key takeaways

Peter J. Weinberger belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter J. Weinberger to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter J. Weinberger from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter Jay Weinberger (born August 6, 1942) is a computer scientist best known for his early work at Bell Labs. He now works at Google. Weinberger was an undergraduate at Swarthmore College, graduating in 1964. He received his PhD in mathematics with a specialization in number theory in 1969 from the University of California, Berkeley under Derrick Henry Lehmer for his thesis Proof of a Conjecture of Gauss on Class Number Two. After holding a position in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he continued his work in analytic number theory, he moved to AT&T Bell Labs. At Bell Labs, Weinberger contributed to the design of the AWK programming language (he is the W in AWK), and the Fortran compiler f77. A detailed explanation of his contributions to AWK and other Unix tools is found in an interview transcript at Princeton University. Another interview sheds some light on his work at Google. When Peter Weinberger was promoted to head of computer science research at Bell Labs, his picture was merged with the AT&T "death star" logo of the mid-80s, creating the PJW Face image that has appeared in innumerable locations, including T-shirts, coffee mugs, CDs, and at least one water tower. The sole remaining PJW Face at Bell Labs is somewhat in disarray, but there are plans afoot to repair it. Prior to joining Google, Weinberger was the chief technology officer at Renaissance Technologies. Weinberger has been a member of the JASON defense advisory group since 1990. He has an Erdős number of 2.

Writings Alfred V. Aho, Brian W. Kernighan, and Peter J. Weinberger (1988). The AWK Programming Language. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-07981-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) The book's webpage includes downloads of the current implementation of Awk and links to others.

References

External links Peter J. Weinberger at the Mathematics Genealogy Project Web site dedicated to PJW's face PJW talks about his work at Google on YouTube

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter J. Weinberger

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter J. Weinberger claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter J. Weinberger before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter J. Weinberger ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter J. Weinberger

In research: Peter J. Weinberger appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter J. Weinberger in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter J. Weinberger is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1942 births, 20th-century American Jews, 21st-century American Jews, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter J. Weinberger outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peter J. Weinberger in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter J. Weinberger means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter J. Weinberger out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter J. Weinberger in simple terms?

Peter Jay Weinberger (born August 6, 1942) is a computer scientist best known for his early work at Bell Labs. He now works at Google.

Why does Peter J. Weinberger matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter J. Weinberger?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter J. Weinberger.