What is Shinichiro Tomonaga known for?
I am best known for my independent development of quantum electrodynamics, or QED, during World War II. While working in relative isolation in Japan, I formulated a covariant perturbation theory that resolved the infinities in electron self-energy and vacuum polarization—what we now call renormalization. This work earned me the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger. I also contributed to meson theory and nuclear forces, and later developed the Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid theory, which describes interacting electrons in one-dimensional systems. Let us consider a simple example: in QED, the electron's charge is not a fixed number but is screened by virtual particle pairs, much like a pebble in a pond creates ripples that alter its apparent size. The essential point is that my approach emphasized a clear physical picture before diving into mathematics.
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