James Hartle

James Burkett Hartle (August 17, 1939 – May 17, 2023) was an American theoretical physicist. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1966, and was a member of the external faculty of the Santa Fe Institute. Hartle is known for his work in general relativity, astrophysics, and interpretation of quantum mechanics. Early life Hartle was born on August 17, 1939, in Baltimore to Anna Elizabeth Burkett and Charles James Hartle. He began as an engineering major upon entering Princeton, but switched to physics due to the influence of John Wheeler. Hartle completed his AB at Princeton University in 1960 and his Ph.D. in particle physics under Murray Gell-Mann in 1964. Work In collaboration with Gell-Mann and others, Hartle developed an alternative to the standard Copenhagen interpretation, more general and appropriate to quantum cosmology, based on consistent histories.