By Charles L. KaneChristopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Physics University of Pennsylvania Matter can arrange itself in the most ingenious ways. In addition to the solid, liquid and gas phases that are familiar in classical physics, electronic phases of matter with both useful and exotic properties are made possible by quantum mechanics. In the … Read more
By Graham Farmelo Fellow, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, U.K.Adjunct Professor of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA Miracle of miracles—that’s how the great physicist Frank Yang described the discovery that some of the beautiful structures of modern mathematics precisely describe our universe’s underlying order. This link between the concrete world of physics and the abstractions … Read more
Spenta R. Wadia is Founding Director and Infosys Homi Bhabha Chair Professor at the International Center for Theoretical Sciences of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India. His main research interests are in elementary particle physics, string theory and quantum gravity. Here is an excerpt from an interview during Spenta’s visit to SCGP.
By Juan Maldacena Carl P. Feinberg Professor, School of Natural Sciences Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ Juan Maldacena is Carl P. Feinberg Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. After receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1996, Juan Maldacena became associate professor of physics at Harvard in 1997. In November of that … Read more
Geometry, from the ancient Greek geo (earth) and metron (measurement), is often considered a universal quality in human thinking. In fact, this idea of an innate ability to “know” geometry dates back to Plato. In the dialogue Meno, written about 380 BC by Plato, the philosopher Socrates draws out an accurate answer to a geometric … Read more
The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics wishes to congratulate our Trustee Juan Maldacena: Juan Maldacena, Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, at the Institute for Advanced Study, has been awarded the Lorentz Medal for his innovative work in theoretical physics. Over the past two decades, Maldacena has made major contributions to … Read more
Carl Schoonover’s acclaimed book Portraits of the Mind is a fascinating visual odyssey exploring how we investigate the workings of the human brain through images—from medieval sketches and 19th century drawings by the founder of neuroscience, to state-of-the-art techniques that fuel research today. Schoonover is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Axel Laboratory at Columbia … Read more
It is with great sadness that we announce that Joseph (Joe) Polchinski has died on February 2, 2018. Polchinski made fundamental contributions to Quantum Field Theory and String theory. Joe is best known for his discovery of D-branes – the key elements of string theory. For his many contributions to theoretical physics Joseph Polchinski has … Read more
The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics wishes to congratulate Director Luis Álvarez-Gaumé for being appointed Distinguished Severo Ochoa Visiting Professor at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Madrid Autonoma University. The Institute for Theoretical Physics (IFT) in Madrid hosts a Distinguished Severo Ochoa Visiting Professor program, funded by its Severo Ochoa Excellence Grant from the Spanish … Read more
