Georgi (Gia) Dvali (

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

: გიორგი (გია) დვალი; born May 30, 1964) is a Georgian theoretical physicist and

science communicator Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

in Georgia. He is a professor of theoretical physics at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, a director at the

Max Planck Institute for Physics The Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) is a physics institute in Munich, Germany that specializes in high energy physics and astroparticle physics. It is part of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and is also known as the Werner Heisenberg Institu ...

in Munich, and holds a Silver Professorship Chair at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. His research interests include

String theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interac ...

Extra dimensions In physics, extra dimensions are proposed additional space or time dimensions beyond the (3 + 1) typical of observed spacetime, such as the first attempts based on the Kaluza–Klein theory. Among theories proposing extra dimensions are: ...

Quantum gravity Quantum gravity (QG) is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics; it deals with environments in which neither gravitational nor quantum effects can be ignored, such as in the vi ...

, and the

Early universe The chronology of the universe describes the history and future of the universe according to Big Bang cosmology. Research published in 2015 estimates the earliest stages of the universe's existence as taking place 13.8 billion years ago, wit ...

. Dvali is considered to be one of the world's leading experts in the field of particle physics. Among his many contributions stand his pioneering works on

Large extra dimensions In particle physics and string theory (M-theory), the ADD model, also known as the model with large extra dimensions (LED), is a model framework that attempts to solve the hierarchy problem. (''Why is the force of gravity so weak compared to the el ...

and the

DGP model The DGP model is a model of gravity proposed by Gia Dvali, Gregory Gabadadze, and Massimo Porrati in 2000. The model is popular among some model builders, but has resisted being embedded into string theory. Overview The DGP model assumes the exi ...

of modified gravity. In 2008, Dvali was awarded the

Alexander von Humboldt Professorship The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship is an academic prize named after Alexander von Humboldt and awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation since 2008. The prize is intended to attract internationally leading scientists from abroad to Ger ...

Early life and education

Georgi Dvali was born on May 30, 1964, in Tbilisi. He graduated from the 55th secondary school of Tbilisi and continued his studies at the Faculty of Physics of

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...

. In 1985, he defended his diploma work under the guidance of Zurab Berezhiani. In 1985–1992 he worked at the

Elephter Andronikashvili Elephter Luarsabovich Andronikashvili (the first name sometimes spelled Elevter or Elefter, ka, ელეფთერ ანდრონიკაშვილი, russian: Элевтер Луарсабович Андроникашвили; – 9 S ...

Physics Institute of the Georgian Academy of Sciences where he completed his PhD in particle physics and cosmology in 1992. In 1992–1993 he was a postdoctoral fellow of the

International Center for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences that operates under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government, United Nations Education ...

(ICTP, Trieste, Italy), and in 1993–1995 he was a postdoctoral fellow of the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

Research and career

Dvali is best known for the

ADD model In particle physics and string theory (M-theory), the ADD model, also known as the model with large extra dimensions (LED), is a model framework that attempts to solve the hierarchy problem. (''Why is the force of gravity so weak compared to the el ...

, which he proposed together with

Nima Arkani-Hamed Nima Arkani-Hamed ( fa, نیما ارکانی حامد; born April 5, 1972) is an American-Canadian

and

Savas Dimopoulos Savas Dimopoulos (; el, Σάββας Δημόπουλος; born 1952) is a particle physicist at Stanford University. He worked at CERN from 1994 to 1997. Dimopoulos is well known for his work on constructing theories beyond the Standard Model. ...

in 1998. It is a scenario inspired by

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interac ...

to explain the relative weakness of gravity to other forces, in which the

Standard Model The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetism, electromagnetic, weak interaction, weak and strong interactions - excluding gravity) in the universe and classifying a ...

fields are confined to a (3+1)-dimensional membrane but gravity can also propagate in additional transverse spatial dimensions that are compact but may be as large as one-tenth of a millimeter. In this framework

quantum gravity Quantum gravity (QG) is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics; it deals with environments in which neither gravitational nor quantum effects can be ignored, such as in the vi ...

, string theory, and

black holes A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can def ...

may be experimentally investigated at the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...

. Dvali's work also includes the large-distance modification of

gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

and its application to the

cosmological constant In cosmology, the cosmological constant (usually denoted by the Greek capital letter lambda: ), alternatively called Einstein's cosmological constant, is the constant coefficient of a term that Albert Einstein temporarily added to his field equ ...

problem. With

Gregory Gabadadze Gregory Gabadadze is a physicist of Georgian origin. He is a professor of physics and dean for science at New York University, where he served previously as chair of the Department of Physics and as the director of the Center for Cosmology and Par ...

and

Massimo Porrati Massimo Porrati (born 1961 in Genova, Italy) is a professor of physics and a member of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics at New York University. He graduated from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy with a "Diploma di Scienze" d ...

he co-pioneered and advanced this direction by proposing a generally covariant model of infrared modification of gravity (the so-called

), and studying many novel and subtle features of this class of models. Giorgi Dvali was invited to the 25th Solvay Conference in Brussels as one of the world's most eminent physicists to participate in the discussion of "The Theory of the Quantum World". Dvali is actively engaged in teaching activities. During 1997–1998, he was a professor at ICTP. Currently, he is a professor of theoretical physics at New York University (Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics) and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, as well as the director of the Max Planck Institute for Physics (Munich) and a scientist-collaborator at the CERN Center for Atomic Research in Geneva. He is also a distinguished professor of the

Free University of Tbilisi Free University ( ka, თავისუფალი უნივერსიტეტი) is a private research university in Tbilisi, Georgia, founded by Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian statesman, businessman and philanthropist often regarded as the ...

Honours and awards

Dvali received New York City's Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology in 2000. Dvali is a recipient of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation's Packard Fellowship, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship, and the Humboldt Professorship (2008).

In popular culture

Dvali is the most famous scientific celebrities in Georgia. Since 2010, he has been regularly giving public lectures in different Georgian universities. Despite the general public having little understanding of the topic, he is widely recognized and receives adulation and publicity.

Personal life

Dvali is married and has two children – a son and a daughter.

External links

Gia Dvali at New York University

Scientific publications of Giorgi Dvali
on

INSPIRE-HEP INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of high energy physics (HEP). It is the successor of the Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1970 ...

Video

Video on Giorgi Dvali's research (Latest Thinking)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dvali, Gia 1964 births People associated with CERN Living people Scientists from Tbilisi Physicists from Georgia (country) String theorists New York University faculty Tbilisi State University alumni Max Planck Institute directors