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{{Short description|Iranian theoretical physicist}}
{{Infobox_Scientist
{{Infobox scientist
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| image = Cumrun_Vafa_at_Harvard.JPG | name = Cumrun Vafa
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'''Cumrun Vafa''' '''کامران وفا''' (born ] in ]) is an ] leading ] from ] where he started as a ]. '''Cumrun Vafa''' ({{langx|fa|کامران وفا}}, {{IPA|fa|kɒːmˈrɒːn væˈfɒː}}; born 1 August 1960) is an ] theoretical physicist and the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at ].


==Birth and education== ==Early life and education==
Cumrun Vafa was born in ], ] on 1 August 1960.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cumrun-vafa-on-demystifin_b_9197322|title=Cumrun Vafa on Stringing the Universe Together|last=Memarian|first=Jahandad|date=2016-02-10|website=HuffPost|language=en|access-date=2019-09-24}}</ref> He became interested in physics as a young child, specifically how the moon was not falling from the sky, and he later grew his interests in math by high school and was fascinated by how mathematics could predict the movement of objects.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maTC1-P-mgk|title=Cumrun Vafa: 2017 Breakthrough Prize Laureate Interviews|date=2018|website=YouTube|series=1:55|type=Video|access-date=2019-09-24}}</ref>
Cumrun Vafa was born in Tehran, Iran in 1960. He graduated from ] and came to the US in 1977. He got his undergraduate degree from ] with double major in math and physics. He received his Ph.D. from ] in 1985 under the supervision of ]. He then became a junior fellow at Harvard, where he later got a junior faculty position. In 1989 he was offered a senior faculty position, and he has been there ever since.
Currently, he is the Donner Professor of Science at Harvard University.<ref></ref>


He graduated from ] in Tehran and moved to the United States in 1977 to study at university.<ref name=":0" /> He received a ] in ] and ] from the ] (MIT) in 1981. He received his ] in physics from ] in 1985 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "Symmetries, inequalities and index theorems", under the supervision of ].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Vafa|first=Cumrun|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/260170|title=Symmetries, inequalities and index theorems|date=1985|language=en}}</ref>
==Research and achievements==
Cumrun Vafa is a leading string theorist. His research area is theoretical particle physics and he does research on the nature of quantum gravity and the relation between geometry and quantum field theories. Superstring theory has emerged as a strong candidate for the unified field theory of fundamental forces. The recent discovery of duality symmetries in Superstring theory has led to a significant insight into non-perturbative dynamics of gravity and quantum field theories. The discovery of Strominger and Vafa that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of a black hole can be accounted for by solitonic states of superstring theory and also the relation between geometry and field theories that arise through string dualities, a topic known as "geometric engineering of quantum field theories". In 1997, he developed ].


== Academia ==
He is also interested in understanding the underlying meaning of string dualities, as well as trying to apply superstring theory to some unsolved questions of elementary particle physics such as the hierarchy problem and the cosmological constant problem.
After his PhD degree, Vafa became a junior fellow via the ] at ], where he later got a junior faculty position. In 1989 he was offered a senior faculty position, and he has been there ever since.


Vafa worked at Princeton University within the ], within the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Mathematics in 1994.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ias.edu/in-the-media/2016/breakthrough-prize|title=$25 Million in Breakthrough Prizes Given in Science and Math|website=Institute for Advanced Study|date=5 December 2016|language=en|access-date=2019-09-24}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ias.edu/news/maldacena-shares-2008-dirac-medal|title=Maldacena Shares 2008 Dirac Medal|website=Institute for Advanced Study|date=13 August 2008|language=en|access-date=2019-09-24}}</ref>
He has published numerous articles on ], and he is famous for his landmark paper with ] about the microscopic origin of the ] ].


==See also== ==Research==
Vafa's research is primarily in ], and is focused on the nature of ] and the relation between geometry and quantum field theories.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/string-theory-may-create-far-fewer-universes-than-thought/|title=String Theory May Create Far Fewer Universes Than Thought|last1=Moskowitz|first1=Clara|last2=Billings|first2=Lee|date=July 30, 2018|website=Scientific American|language=en|access-date=2019-09-24}}</ref> He is known in the string theory community for his co-discovery with ] that the ] of a black hole can be accounted for by ]ic states of superstring theory,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/science/string-theory-at-20-explains-it-all-or-not.html|title=String Theory, at 20, Explains It All (or Not)|last=Overbye|first=Dennis|date=2004-12-07|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/world/about-those-fearsome-black-holes-never-mind.html|title=About Those Fearsome Black Holes? Never Mind|last=Overbye|first=Dennis|date=2004-07-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and for expounding the relation between geometry and field theories that arise through string dualities (culminating in the ]). This topic has been known as "geometric engineering of quantum field theories".
*]

In 1997, he developed ], a 12-dimensional theory that compactifies to 10-D Type IIB superstring theory.

He is also interested in understanding the underlying meaning of string dualities, as well as trying to apply superstring theory to some unsolved questions of elementary particle physics such as the hierarchy problem and the ] problem.

He has made contributions to ] and to the understanding of ].

He is a trustee of Network of Iranians for Knowledge and Innovation (NIKI).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theniki.net/boards-trustees-en.html|title=Board of Trustees|website=www.theniki.net|publisher=Network of Iranians for Knowledge and Innovation (NIKI)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416101433/http://www.theniki.net/boards-trustees-en.html|archive-date=2015-04-16|access-date=2015-04-16}}</ref>

== Awards and honors ==
In 2017, Vafa, alongside ] and ], jointly won the ] for their advancement of string theory<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/science/breakthrough-prizes-science-math.html|title=$25 Million in Breakthrough Prizes Given in Science and Math|last1=Overbye|first1=Dennis|date=2016-12-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-24|last2=Chang|first2=Kenneth|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|last3=Fleur|first3=Nicholas St|last4=Grady|first4=Denise}}</ref> and jointly won the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Physics Frontiers Prize.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/1/L45|title=Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Cumrun Vafa|website=Breakthrough Prize|access-date=2019-09-24}}</ref>

He is the recipient of the ] (ICTP)'s, 2008 ], which was won alongside ], and ] for their advancement of string theory.<ref name=":1" />

In 1998 he was a Plenary Speaker at the ].<ref>{{cite book|author=Vafa, Cumrun|chapter=Geometric Physics|title=Doc. Math. (Bielefeld) Extra Vol. ICM Berlin, 1998, vol. I|year=1998|pages=537–556|chapter-url=https://www.elibm.org/ft/10011736000}}</ref>

In 2016, Vafa was awarded the ].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm|title=2016 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Recipient|date=2016|website=www.aps.org|publisher=American Physical Society|language=en|access-date=2019-09-24}}</ref>

Vafa was elected as a member of the ] in 2005 and as a member of the ] in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cumrun Vafa|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/cumrun-vafa|access-date=2020-06-19|website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Cumrun Vafa|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20020129.html|access-date=2020-06-19|website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>

In 2021, Vafa was awarded the .<ref name=":2" />

== Publications ==

=== Research articles ===
Vafa has co-authored and published more than 300 research articles in the fields of string theory, mathematics, and physics, with many other researchers including: ], ], ], ], ], ], and many others. This is a select list of these works:

* {{cite arXiv|last1=Dijkgraaf|first1=Robbert|last2=Vafa|first2=Cumrun|date=September 2009|title=Toda Theories, Matrix Models, Topological Strings, and N=2 Gauge Systems|eprint=0909.2453|pages=41|class=hep-th}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Dijkgraaf|first1=Robbert|last2=Hollands|first2=Lotte|last3=Sulkowski|first3=Piotr|last4=Vafa|first4=Cumrun|year=2008|title=Supersymmetric Gauge Theories, Intersecting Branes and Free Fermions|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/1767227|journal=Journal of High Energy Physics|volume=2008|issue=2|pages=106|doi=10.1088/1126-6708/2008/02/106|via=Research Gate|arxiv=0709.4446|bibcode=2008JHEP...02..106D|s2cid=3827567}}
*{{Cite journal|last1=Dijkgraaf|first1=Robbert|last2=Gopakumar|first2=Rajesh|last3=Ooguri|first3=Hirosi|last4=Vafa|first4=Cumrun|date=September 2006|title=Baby universes and string theory|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50516114|journal=International Journal of Modern Physics D|volume=15|issue=10|pages=1581–1586|doi=10.1142/S0218271806008978|via=ResearchGate|bibcode=2006IJMPD..15.1581D|s2cid=199676528 }}
*Dixon, L; Harvey, JA; Vafa, C; Witten, E. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812121732/http://theory.uchicago.edu/~harvey/pdf_files/orbiI.pdf |date=2017-08-12 }}. ''Nuclear Physics''.
*{{Cite arXiv|eprint=hep-th/0002222|last1=Hori|first1=Kentaro|last2=Vafa|first2=Cumrun|title=Mirror Symmetry|year=2000}}

=== Books ===

* {{Cite book|title=Mirror Symmetry (Clay Mathematics Monographs, V. 1)|last1=Hori|first1=Kentaro|last2=Katz|first2=Sheldon|last3=Klemm|first3=Albrecht|last4=Pandharipande|first4=Rahul|last5=Thomas|first5=Richard|last6=Vafa|first6=Cumrun|last7=Vakil|first7=Ravi|last8=Zaslow|first8=Eric|publisher=American Mathematical Society|year=2003|isbn=978-0821829554}}
* {{Cite book|title=Winter School on Mirror Symmetry, Vector Bundles and Lagrangian Submanifolds|last1=Vafa|first1=Cumrun|last2=Yau|first2=Shing-Tung (S.T.)|publisher=American Mathematical Society|year=1999|isbn=978-0821821596}}
*{{Cite book|title=Puzzles to Unravel the Universe|last1=Vafa|first1=Cumrun|publisher=Independently published|year=2020|isbn=979-8642693636}}


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{reflist}}


==External links== == External links ==
*
*


*
* Video: (2018) via YouTube
* Video: (2021) via YouTube
{{Breakthrough Prize laureates}}


{{Authority control}}
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{{Persondata
|NAME= Vafa, Cumrun
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= Iranian-American Physicist
|DATE OF BIRTH= ]
|PLACE OF BIRTH= ]
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=
}}


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Latest revision as of 22:36, 20 October 2024

Iranian theoretical physicist
Cumrun Vafa
Born (1960-08-01) 1 August 1960 (age 64)
Tehran, Iran
NationalityIranian-American
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BS)
Princeton University (PhD)
Known forF-theory
Vafa–Witten theorem
Gopakumar–Vafa invariant
Mirror symmetry
Swampland
Weak gravity conjecture
AwardsDirac Medal (2008)
Eisenbud Prize (2008)
Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (2016)
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2017)
Mustafa Prize (2021)
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical Physics
InstitutionsHarvard University
Doctoral advisorEdward Witten
Doctoral studentsFreddy Cachazo
Daniel L. Jafferis
Andrew Neitzke
Eric Zaslow

Cumrun Vafa (Persian: کامران وفا, Persian pronunciation: [kɒːmˈrɒːn væˈfɒː]; born 1 August 1960) is an Iranian-American theoretical physicist and the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University.

Early life and education

Cumrun Vafa was born in Tehran, Iran on 1 August 1960. He became interested in physics as a young child, specifically how the moon was not falling from the sky, and he later grew his interests in math by high school and was fascinated by how mathematics could predict the movement of objects.

He graduated from Alborz High School in Tehran and moved to the United States in 1977 to study at university. He received a B.S. in mathematics and physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1981. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1985 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "Symmetries, inequalities and index theorems", under the supervision of Edward Witten.

Academia

After his PhD degree, Vafa became a junior fellow via the Harvard Society of Fellows at Harvard University, where he later got a junior faculty position. In 1989 he was offered a senior faculty position, and he has been there ever since.

Vafa worked at Princeton University within the Institute for Advanced Study, within the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Mathematics in 1994.

Research

Vafa's research is primarily in string theory, and is focused on the nature of quantum gravity and the relation between geometry and quantum field theories. He is known in the string theory community for his co-discovery with Strominger that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of a black hole can be accounted for by solitonic states of superstring theory, and for expounding the relation between geometry and field theories that arise through string dualities (culminating in the Gopakumar–Vafa conjecture). This topic has been known as "geometric engineering of quantum field theories".

In 1997, he developed F-theory, a 12-dimensional theory that compactifies to 10-D Type IIB superstring theory.

He is also interested in understanding the underlying meaning of string dualities, as well as trying to apply superstring theory to some unsolved questions of elementary particle physics such as the hierarchy problem and the cosmological constant problem.

He has made contributions to topological string theories and to the understanding of mirror symmetry.

He is a trustee of Network of Iranians for Knowledge and Innovation (NIKI).

Awards and honors

In 2017, Vafa, alongside Andrew Strominger and Joseph Polchinski, jointly won the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their advancement of string theory and jointly won the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Physics Frontiers Prize.

He is the recipient of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)'s, 2008 Dirac Medal, which was won alongside Juan Maldacena, and Joseph Polchinski for their advancement of string theory.

In 1998 he was a Plenary Speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians.

In 2016, Vafa was awarded the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics.

Vafa was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005 and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2009.

In 2021, Vafa was awarded the Mustafa Prize.

Publications

Research articles

Vafa has co-authored and published more than 300 research articles in the fields of string theory, mathematics, and physics, with many other researchers including: Robbert Dijkgraaf, Hirosi Ooguri, Mina Aganagic, Sergei Gukov, Rajesh Gopakumar, Lotte Hollands, and many others. This is a select list of these works:

Books

  • Hori, Kentaro; Katz, Sheldon; Klemm, Albrecht; Pandharipande, Rahul; Thomas, Richard; Vafa, Cumrun; Vakil, Ravi; Zaslow, Eric (2003). Mirror Symmetry (Clay Mathematics Monographs, V. 1). American Mathematical Society. ISBN 978-0821829554.
  • Vafa, Cumrun; Yau, Shing-Tung (S.T.) (1999). Winter School on Mirror Symmetry, Vector Bundles and Lagrangian Submanifolds. American Mathematical Society. ISBN 978-0821821596.
  • Vafa, Cumrun (2020). Puzzles to Unravel the Universe. Independently published. ISBN 979-8642693636.

References

  1. ^ Memarian, Jahandad (2016-02-10). "Cumrun Vafa on Stringing the Universe Together". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  2. "Cumrun Vafa: 2017 Breakthrough Prize Laureate Interviews". YouTube (Video). 1:55. 2018. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  3. Vafa, Cumrun (1985). Symmetries, inequalities and index theorems.
  4. "$25 Million in Breakthrough Prizes Given in Science and Math". Institute for Advanced Study. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  5. ^ "Maldacena Shares 2008 Dirac Medal". Institute for Advanced Study. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  6. Moskowitz, Clara; Billings, Lee (July 30, 2018). "String Theory May Create Far Fewer Universes Than Thought". Scientific American. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  7. Overbye, Dennis (2004-12-07). "String Theory, at 20, Explains It All (or Not)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  8. Overbye, Dennis (2004-07-22). "About Those Fearsome Black Holes? Never Mind". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  9. "Board of Trustees". www.theniki.net. Network of Iranians for Knowledge and Innovation (NIKI). Archived from the original on 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  10. Overbye, Dennis; Chang, Kenneth; Fleur, Nicholas St; Grady, Denise (2016-12-04). "$25 Million in Breakthrough Prizes Given in Science and Math". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  11. "Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Cumrun Vafa". Breakthrough Prize. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  12. Vafa, Cumrun (1998). "Geometric Physics". Doc. Math. (Bielefeld) Extra Vol. ICM Berlin, 1998, vol. I. pp. 537–556.
  13. ^ "2016 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Recipient". www.aps.org. American Physical Society. 2016. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  14. "Cumrun Vafa". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  15. "Cumrun Vafa". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2020-06-19.

External links

Breakthrough Prize laureates
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