Physicist Juan Maldacena To Lecture At Institute For Advanced Study
Juan Maldacena, professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will speak on "Black Holes and the Structure of Spacetime" on March 13 at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus. The lecture will be followed by a reception in the Common Room of Fuld Hall.
"In Einstein's theory of gravity, spacetime is curved and has its own dynamics," says Maldacena. "A heavy object curves spacetime. Some objects curve the space so much they create a 'hole' in the fabric of spacetime. An observer who falls into the black hole cannot come back out again.
"In quantum theories of gravity, black holes are not so dark, after all."
Maldacena, a theoretical physicist, is known for his work in the branch of physics called string theory, which aims at a unified explanation of all physical forces. He studied physics at the University of Buenos Aires and the Instituto Balseiro in Bariloche, Argentina. In 1991 he received his master's degree from the Universidad de Cuyo, Bariloche, and, in 1996, his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. After being a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers University, he joined the Harvard University faculty in 1997 as visiting associate professor. In 1999 he was named Cabot Associate Professor, and then Professor of Physics. He spent the spring semester of 1999 as a member at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Maldacena has published numerous papers in professional journals on string theory, quantum gravity, and high-energy theoretical physics. He is also a frequent lecturer at national and international colloquia and conferences.
The recipient of numerous honors, in 1999 he received one of the so-called "genius grants" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; these grants "enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of society." In the same year he also received the UNESCO Husein Prize for Young Scientists.
More recently, Maldacena was awarded the 2000 Sackler Prize in Physical Sciences, awarded by Tel-Aviv University to recognize "dedication to science, originality, and excellence" in young scientists, and the 2001 International Xanthopoulos Award for Gravitation and Cosmology, given at the 16th General Relativity Conference, held in Durban, South Africa.
The talk is one of a series of public lectures presented by faculty members of the Institute for Advanced Study throughout the academic year.