Shamit Kachru (born 1970) is a theoretical physicist, a professor of physics at
Stanford University, and the Wells Family Director of the
Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics
The Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP) is a research institute within the Physics Department at Stanford University. Led by 16 physics faculty members, the institute conducts research in High Energy and Condensed Matter theoretica ...
. He served as the Stanford Physics Department Chair from 2018 to 2021.
Career
Kachru's research has explored a broad range of topics in string theory and quantum field theory, and their applications in cosmology, condensed matter physics, and elementary particle theory. He has made central contributions to the study of compactifications of string theory from ten to four dimensions, especially in the investigation of mechanisms which could yield string models of dark energy or cosmic inflation. He has also made notable contributions to the discovery and exploration of
string dualities
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Strings (1991 film), ''Strings'' (1991 fi ...
, to the study of models of supersymmetry breaking in string theory, and to the construction of calculable dual descriptions of strongly coupled particle physics and condensed matter systems. More recently, his work has focused on connections between geometry, number theory, and string theory. His research has also moved into theoretical questions in evolutionary biology and ecology.
Kachru is a recipient of a Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Bergmann Memorial Award, a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship, and a
Simons Investigator Award
The Simons Foundation is a private foundation established in 1994 by Marilyn and Jim Simons with offices in New York City. As one of the largest charitable organizations in the US with assets of over $5 billion in 2022, the foundation's mission ...
. He was elected as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2022.
In 1986, Kachru attended the prestigious
Research Science Institute. He graduated from
University High School in
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...
and from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
before obtaining a doctorate in physics from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
under the supervision of
Edward Witten
Edward Witten (born August 26, 1951) is an American mathematical and theoretical physicist. He is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, q ...
. Kachru was a Junior Fellow in the
Harvard Society of Fellows
The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intell ...
. In 2017 he received a
Simons Investigator Award
The Simons Foundation is a private foundation established in 1994 by Marilyn and Jim Simons with offices in New York City. As one of the largest charitable organizations in the US with assets of over $5 billion in 2022, the foundation's mission ...
.
Kachru is best known for his extensive research on flux compactifications (including work with Steve Giddings and
Joseph Polchinski
Joseph Gerard Polchinski Jr. (; May 16, 1954 – February 2, 2018) was an American theoretical physicist and string theorist.
Biography
Polchinski was born in White Plains, New York, the elder of two children to Joseph Gerard Polchinski Sr. (1929 ...
), which can stabilize the extra dimensions of
string theory. In collaboration with
Renata Kallosh
Renata Elizaveta Kallosh uk, Рената Єлизавета Каллош; born 1943) is Ukrainian-American a theoretical physicist. She is a Professor of Physics at Stanford University, working there on supergravity, string theory and inflati ...
,
Andrei Linde
Andrei Dmitriyevich Linde (russian: Андре́й Дми́триевич Ли́нде; born March 2, 1948) is a Russian-American theoretical physicist and the Harald Trap Friis Professor of Physics at Stanford University.
Linde is one of the ...
, and
Sandip Trivedi
Sandip Trivedi ( hi, सन्दिप त्रिवेदी; born 1963) is an Indian theoretical physicist working at Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR) at Mumbai, India, while he is its current director. He is well known for h ...
, he found the first models of accelerated expansion of the universe in low energy supersymmetric string compactifications (see
KKLT mechanism).
He made notable contributions to string theory duality (with
Cumrun Vafa
Cumrun Vafa ( fa, کامران وفا ; 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 Tehra ...
), the
AdS/CFT correspondence
In theoretical physics, the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence, sometimes called Maldacena duality or gauge/gravity duality, is a conjectured relationship between two kinds of physical theories. On one side are anti-de Sitter s ...
(with
Eva Silverstein), and to the construction of models of
cosmic inflation. He has also done significant work on the holographic description of finite density quantum matter, the theory of non-Fermi liquids, and the understanding of moonshine and its connections to physics and geometry.
He is the son of
Braj Kachru
Braj Bihari Kachru (15 May 1932 – 29 July 2016) was an Indian-American linguist. He was Jubilee Professor of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He published studies on the Kashmiri language.
Personal life
Braj ...
and
Yamuna Kachru
Yamuna Kachru (यमुना काचरु, (Devanagari)) (5 March 1933 in Purulia, West Bengal, India - 19 April 2013 in Urbana, Illinois) was Professor Emerita of Linguistics at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Career
Kachru stu ...
, and is married to fellow Stanford professor
Eva Silverstein.
References
External links
Faculty page at Stanford University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachru, Shamit
21st-century American physicists
American people of Indian descent
American people of Kashmiri descent
American Hindus
Kashmiri people
Kashmiri Pandits
American string theorists
Harvard University alumni
Princeton University alumni
Rutgers University people
Harvard Fellows
Stanford University Department of Physics faculty
1970 births
Living people
Theoretical physicists
Simons Investigator
Indian American