E.C.G. Stueckelberg: a forerunner of modern physics

Abstract

The pioneering work of E.C.G. Stueckelberg is briefly analyzed: the formalism of the Stueckelberg field, able to describe a massive vector field, is reviewed, and some applications are presented. In particular, starting from his very first application, devoted to describe nuclear phenomena known in the Thirties, later attempts to demonstrate the renormalizability of the model are considered. Finally, also string theory and LQG are illustrated to be a suitable scenario for the Stueckelberg field.