Carlos Silvestre Frenk (born 27 October 1951) is a Mexican-British

cosmologist Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

and the Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

.University of Durham Department of Physics
Research in the Department: Status and Outlook
March 2005. Retrieved 23 July 2013. His main interests lie in the fields of

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

galaxy formation The study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have ge ...

and

computer simulations Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be dete ...

of cosmic structure formation.

Early life and education

Carlos Frenk was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and is the eldest son of six siblings. His father is a German Jewish doctor who emigrated from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

at the age of 7, fleeing persecution in the lead up to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. His mother is a Mexican–Spanish pianist. Frenk studied engineering at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

but later changed to Theoretical Physics, earning an undergraduate degree in 1976. Later that year he secured a

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

Fellowship and enrolled at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

to read

Part III of the Mathematical Tripos Part III of the Mathematical Tripos (officially Master of Mathematics/Master of Advanced Study) is a one-year Masters-level taught course in mathematics offered at the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge. It is regarded as one of the ...

, which he was awarded in 1977. He remained at Cambridge for doctoral studies under the supervision of Bernard J. T. Jones and was awarded a PhD in astronomy in 1981.

Career and research

Following an endowment from

Peter Ogden Sir Peter Ogden (born 1940) is an English businessman who is one of the founders of Computacenter, one of the United Kingdom's largest computer businesses. Education Ogden was born in Rochdale, England. He was educated at Rochdale Grammar Sch ...

in 2001, Frenk became the inaugural Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham University and continues to hold this position today. He is also co-Principal Investigator of the

Virgo Consortium The Virgo Consortium was founded in 1994 for '' Cosmological Supercomputer Simulations'' in response to the UK's High Performance Computing Initiative. Virgo developed rapidly into an international collaboration between a dozen scientists in the U ...

, alongside

Simon White Simon David Manton White (born 30 September 1951), FRS, is a British astrophysicist. He was one of directors at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics before his retirement in late 2019. Life White studied Mathematics at Jesus College, C ...

. Frenk became the Director of the

Institute for Computational Cosmology The Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) is a Research Institute at Durham University, England. It was founded in November 2002 as part of the Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics, which also includes the Institute for Particle Physics Phe ...

when it was established in 2001. He held this post until 2020 when he was succeeded by Shaun Cole.

Awards and honours

He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 2004 and is a member of the Royal Society's Council. He won the

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

in 2014. Other awards and honours include: *2021

Rumford Medal The Rumford Medal is an award bestowed by Britain's Royal Society every alternating year for "an outstandingly important recent discovery in the field of thermal or optical properties of matter made by a scientist working in Europe". First awar ...

*2020

Dirac Medal and Prize The Dirac Medal is the name of four awards in the field of theoretical physics, computational chemistry, and mathematics, awarded by different organizations, named in honour of Professor Paul Dirac, one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20 ...

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

*2020

Clarivate Citation Laureate Clarivate Citation Laureates formerly Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates is a list of candidates considered likely to win the Nobel Prize in their respective field. The candidates are so named based on the citation impact of their published resear ...

in Physics *2017

Max Born Prize The Max Born Medal and Prize is a scientific prize awarded yearly by the German Physical Society (DPG) and the British Institute of Physics (IOP) in memory of the German physicist Max Born, who was a German-Jewish physicist, instrumental in th ...

of the

German Physical Society The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,547, as of 2019, making it the largest physics society in the world. It holds an annual conference () and multiple ...

*2014

Gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

], ''

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

'' *2013 Alexander von Humboldt Research Award *2013 Lansdowne Visitor,

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

, Canada *2013 The Biermann Lectures, Max Planck Society *2011

Gruber Prize in Cosmology The Gruber Prize in Cosmology, established in 2000, is one of three prestigious international awards worth US$500,000 made by the Gruber Foundation, a non-profit organization based at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Since 2001, the G ...

($500,000, jointly with Marc Davis,

George Efstathiou George Petros Efstathiou (; born 2 September 1955) is a British astrophysicist who is Professor of Astrophysics (1909) at the University of Cambridge and was the first Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambr ...

, Simon White) *2010 Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize,

*2010

George Darwin Lectureship The George Darwin Lectureship is an award granted by the Royal Astronomical Society to a 'distinguished and eloquent speaker' on the subject of Astronomy including astrochemistry, astrobiology and astroparticle physics. The award is named after ...

, Royal Astronomical Society
/ref> *2007 Daniel Chalonge medal, Observatoire de Paris *2006

Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award The Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award was an award made by the Royal Society from 2000 to 2020. It was administered by the Royal Society and jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the UK Office of Science and Technology, to provide ...

*2006 The Withrow lecture, Royal Astronomical Society *2004 Elected a

(FRS) *2004 Ranked 2nd most cited author in Space Sciences in the world in the past 10 years. *2002 Ranked 5th most cited physical scientist in UK since 1980 *2000–2001 Leverhulme Research Fellowship *2000 Ranked 16th most cited physical scientist in the UK during the 1990s *1996–1999

PPARC The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) was one of a number of research councils in the United Kingdom. It directed, coordinated and funded research in particle physics and astronomy for the people of the UK. Its head office wa ...

Senior Fellowship *1992–1993 Sir Derman Christopherson Fellowship, University of Durham *1991–1992 Nuffield Foundation Science Research Fellowship *1985 SERC Advanced Fellowship (declined) *1976–1979 British Council Fellowship *1976 Gabino Barreda medal for first place in Theor. Phys. degree Frenk was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

for services to cosmology and the public dissemination of basic science. He was interviewed by

Kirsty Young Kirsty Jackson Young (born 23 November 1968) is a Scottish television and radio presenter. From 2006 to 2018 she was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's ''Desert Island Discs''. She presented ''Crimewatch'' on BBC One from 2008 to 2015. Early ...

for ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'', first broadcast in 2018.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frenk, Carlos Silvestre 1951 births Living people 20th-century Mexican physicists 21st-century British physicists British cosmologists Academics of Durham University Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Scientists from Mexico City Commanders of the Order of the British Empire