Jean-Pierre Vigier

This article is about the physicist. For the French politician, see Jean-Pierre Vigier (politician). For the ice hockey player, see J. P. Vigier.

Jean-Pierre Vigier (16 January 1920 – 4 May 2004)^[1] was a French theoretical physicist, known for his work on the foundations of physics, in particular on his stochastic interpretation of quantum physics.

Jean-Pierre Vigier in his Paris office in 2003

Nobel Laureate Louis de Broglie's office chair

Education

A native of Paris, Vigier earned his PhD in mathematics from University of Geneva in 1946 with a study on Infinite Sequences of Hermitian Operators.^[2] In 1948 he was appointed assistant to Louis de Broglie, a position he held until the latter's retirement in 1962. Vigier was professor emeritus in the Department of Gravitational Physics at Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris. He authored more than 300 scientific papers, and co-authored and edited a number of books and conference proceedings. He was a member of the editorial board of Physics Letters A.

Vigier was a proponent of the stochastic interpretation of quantum mechanics, which was based on the ideas of de Broglie and David Bohm. Politically, Vigier was an active supporter of communism throughout his life.

Vigier was invited to be Einstein's assistant; but at the time because of his political controversy related to Vietnam the United States Department of State would not allow him entry into the United States.

Vigier died in 2004 in Paris.

Family

Vigier's father was a professor of English, such that Vigier became fluent in English and French, his native language.^{[citation needed]}