Editing Edward Witten (section)

==Early life and education==
Witten was born on August 26, 1951, in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], to a [[Jewish]] family,<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Edward Witten - Biography
|url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Witten/|access-date=2023-02-01
| author1 = J J O'Connor 
| author2=  E F Robertson
| date= September 2009 
| publisher= University of St Andrews
|website=Maths History|language=en}}</ref> as the eldest of four children. His brother [[Matt Witten]] became a writer, and his brother Jesse Amnon Witten became a law partner in the firm [[Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath]].<ref>{{cite web|title=LDB Appoints Jesse A. Witten to the LDB Legal Advisory Board|date=October 20, 2020|website=Brandeis Center|url=https://brandeiscenter.com/ldb-appoints-jesse-a-witten-to-the-ldb-legal-advisory-board/}}</ref> The three brothers' sister Celia M. Witten earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from [[Stanford University]]<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=18616|name=Celia Witten}}</ref> and then an M.D. from the [[University of Miami]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Celia Witten, M.D., Ph.D.|website=The University of Texas at Austin, College of Pharmacy|url=https://sites.utexas.edu/cpe-icdd/speakers/celia-witten}}</ref> Edward Witten is the son of Lorraine (born Wollach) Witten<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary for Lorraine Witten|newspaper=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=February 10, 1987|page=13|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-enquirer-obituary-for-lor/72622660/}}</ref> and [[Louis Witten]], a [[theoretical physicist]] specializing in [[gravity|gravitation]] and [[general relativity]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEp1LT7dQMoC&q=LORRAINE+LOUIS+WITTEN|title=The International Who's Who: 1992–93|date=1992|publisher=Europa Publications|isbn=978-0-946653-84-3|page=1754}}</ref>

Witten attended the [[Park School of Baltimore]] (class of 1968), and received his [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree with a major in [[history]] and minor in [[linguistics]] from [[Brandeis University]] in 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Edward Witten (1951)|url=https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/medalofscience50/witten.jsp|access-date=August 25, 2020|website=www.nsf.gov}}</ref>

He had aspirations in journalism and politics and published articles in both ''[[The New Republic]]'' and ''[[The Nation]]'' in the late 1960s.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Witten|first=Edward|title=Are You Listening, D.H. Lawrence?|magazine=The New Republic|date=October 18, 1969}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Witten|first=Edward|title=The New Left |work=The Nation|date=December 16, 1968}}</ref> In 1972, he worked for six months on [[George McGovern 1972 presidential campaign|George McGovern's presidential campaign]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Farmelo|first=Graham|date=May 2, 2019|title='The Universe Speaks in Numbers' – Interview 5|url=https://grahamfarmelo.com/the-universe-speaks-in-numbers-interview-5/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503163123/https://grahamfarmelo.com/the-universe-speaks-in-numbers-interview-5/|archive-date=May 3, 2019|access-date=August 25, 2020|website=Graham Farmelo}} [https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2019/05/graham-farmelos-interview-of-edward.html Alt URL]</ref>

Witten attended the [[University of Michigan]] for one semester as an economics graduate student before dropping out.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-24 |title=Edward Witten |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/46968 |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=www.aip.org |language=en}}</ref> He returned to academia, enrolling in [[applied mathematics]] at [[Princeton University]] in 1973, then shifting departments and receiving a [[PhD]] in physics in 1976 and completing a dissertation, "Some problems in the short distance analysis of gauge theories", under the supervision of [[David Gross]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Witten|first=E.|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/1632693|title=Some problems in the short distance analysis of gauge theories|date=1976}}</ref> He held a fellowship at [[Harvard University]] (1976–77), visited [[Oxford University]] (1977–78),<ref name="Adv">{{Cite web |url=http://www.sns.ias.edu/ckfinder/userfiles/files/ComemorativeLecturePopular%281%29.pdf |title=Edward Witten – Adventures in physics and math (Kyoto Prize lecture 2014) |access-date=October 30, 2016 |archive-date=August 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823223743/http://www.sns.ias.edu/ckfinder/userfiles/files/ComemorativeLecturePopular(1).pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.sns.ias.edu/sites/default/files/Interview.pdf Interview by Hirosi Ooguri] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329131003/http://www.sns.ias.edu/sites/default/files/Interview.pdf |date=March 29, 2017 }}, ''[[Notices of the American Mathematical Society]]'', May 2015, pp. 491–506.</ref> was a junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (1977–1980), and held a [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Foundation]] fellowship (1982).<ref name=":0" />