Rajesh Gopakumar (born 1967) is an Indian

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

and the director of th
International Centre for Theoretical Sciences
(ICT
TIFR
in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, India. He was previously a professor at Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) in

Prayagraj Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

, India. He is known for his work on topological string theory.

Background

Gopakumar was born in 1967 to Jaishree and G. Gopakumar in Kolkata. His family hails from the southern Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. He has the distinction of securing All Indian Rank 1 in the examination for IIT-JEE in 1987. Gopakumar obtained his integrated M.Sc. degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from the prestigious IIT Kanpur in 1992. He completed his Ph.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1997 under the supervision of

David Gross David Jonathan Gross (; born February 19, 1941) is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. Along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. ...

. After a few years as a research associate at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, he joined HRI in 2001. He was also a visiting fellow at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

from 2001 to 2004. He is married to Rukmini Dey, a Professor of

Mathematical Physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

and

Geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

at ICTS-TIFR.

Research

Gopakumar is a

string theorist 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 intera ...

. Earlier on in his career, his research was primarily focused on large N gauge theories with

, noncommutative gauge theories with

Andrew Strominger Andrew Eben Strominger (; born 1955) is an American theoretical physicist who is the director of Harvard's Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature. He has made significant contributions to quantum gravity and string theory. These include his ...

and

Shiraz Minwalla Shiraz Naval Minwalla (born 2 January 1972) is an Indian theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and string theory, string theorist. He is a faculty member in the Department of Theoretical Physics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, M ...

, and topological string theory and gauge/geometry correspondence with

Cumrun Vafa Cumrun Vafa (, ; born 1 August 1960) is an Iranian-American theoretical physicist and the Hollis Professor of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University. Early life and education Cumrun Vafa was born in Tehran, Iran on 1 August 1 ...

and is particularly known for proposing the Gopakumar–Vafa duality and Gopakumar–Vafa invariants. Later, his work focused on attempts to derive the AdS/CFT correspondence, and on minimal model holography (with Matthias Gaberdiel). In recent years, he has made important contributions to higher spin theories and their connections with string theory (with Matthias Gaberdiel). He has also recently worked on the

Conformal bootstrap The conformal bootstrap is a non-perturbative mathematical method to constrain and solve Conformal field theory, conformal field theories, i.e. models of particle physics or statistical physics that exhibit similar properties at different levels of ...

Awards

* B.M. Birla Science Prize in Physics, 2004 *

ICTP Prize The International Centre for Theoretical Physics Prize (ICTP Prize) is an annual award given by the ICTP Scientific Council since 1982. It is given to outstanding and original contributions in physics by young scientists from, and working in, devel ...

, 2006 * Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, 2009 *

TWAS Prize This is a list of recipients of the TWAS Prize, awarded annually by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) since 1985. Summary Agricultural Sciences Biology Chemistry Earth Sciences Engineering Sciences Mathematics ...

in Physics, 2013 He was named Fellow of the

Global Young Academy The Global Young Academy (GYA) is an international society of young scientists, aiming to give a voice to young scientists across the globe.... Membership strength is capped at 200, and the membership tenure is 5 years. Organization and member ...

of Scientists for 2010. He is a member of the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

, and the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...

.GYA member listing
, retrieved 2011-03-23.

Selected publications

* *
List of R. Gopakumar's Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gopakumar, Rajesh 1967 births Living people 20th-century Indian physicists Indian string theorists Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Physical Science IIT Kanpur alumni Scientists from Kolkata TWAS laureates