Steven Weinberg, an American theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate (1979), and member of the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) died on July 23, 2021, at the age of eightyeight. Weinberg was a highly regarded scientist with principal contributions to astrophysics and high energy physics throughout his career. He was honored through numerous other prizes and had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and Britain’s Royal Society. Besides his pivotal work in physics, Weinberg was also focused on education and public engagements. Weinberg was elected a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (then CSICOP) in 1995.
Weinberg’s fundamental contribution to science was bridging the gap between astrophysics and high energy physics, historically two separate fields of physics. He was able to do so both at the level of public outreach—making his work accessible to lay people and experts alike—and cutting-edge science. Regarding the former, one of his contributions was the popular science book The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe, published in 1977. The book was well received by the general public and was also readily used as an introductory text for university students. A more recent piece, published in 2015, is the science history book To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science, which attracted both interest and controversy.