Salam's Letter

Abdus Salam was of course invited to the First Wigner Symposium, and he was planning to attend. However, due to his complicated schedule, he was not able to come. Instead, he sent the following telegram to the Symposium organizers.

Eugene Wigner has been a hero to the physicists of my generation, firstly, for his great textbook on group theory; secondly for his most perceptive article on the representations of the Poincaré group; thirdly, for the pioneering and complete discussions of discrete "reflections" like P and T; and finally, for his insistence on the importance of the "symmetry" principles. This may be characterized as the work of Wigner-I. Wigner-II has been concerned with nuclear reactors. If you ask a nuclear reactor physicist about his great hero, it dos not come as a surprise to find that it is the same Wigner.

Wigner-III for us in Trieste has been compounded of Wigner I and Wigner-II as well as Manci Dirac's brother. We have been privileged to welcome him, together with Dirac, to the International Center for Theoretical Physics during the years 1968, 1970, 1972. Wigner's last visit to Trieste was in 1983. Wigner and I co-edited the commemorative volume in honor of Dirac for the latter's 70th birthday in 1972.

It is incredible that Wigner will be 86 in November. His mischievous way of putting questions in which he poses as an ignoramus but only succeeds in devastating the poor speaker gives him a freshness which belies these 86 years. While saluting him and everything he means for our generation, I would like send him, on behalf of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, wishes for many happy returns for this coming birthday.