Đàm Thanh Sơn (born 1969) is a Vietnamese theoretical physicist working in

quantum chromodynamics In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type ...

, applications of

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 ...

and many-body physics.

Early life and education

Born in North Vietnam, Bac Ninh. Sơn attended HUS High School for Gifted Students, where he won gold medal in the

International Mathematics Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except i ...

with an absolute score, and received his Ph.D. at the Institute for Nuclear Research in Moscow in 1995.

Career

Sơn was a postdoc at the University of Washington from 1995 to 1997, and the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics from 1997 to 1999. From 1999 to 2002 he was a professor at Columbia University and a RIKEN-BNL fellow. He moved to Seattle in 2002 when he became a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Nuclear Theory and a professor in the Physics Department, University of Washington. Then in 2012, he moved to Chicago and became the 19th person to hold a University Professorship at University of Chicago.

In the media

He is well known to users of the World Wide Web for being the subject of an online meme, 'Dam Son', which features a photograph of Đàm Thanh Sơn in his primary school years.

Honors

* Outstanding Junior Investigator in Nuclear Physics, DOE, 2000 *

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is an American philanthropic nonprofit organization. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., then-president and chief executive officer of General Motors. The Sloan Foundation makes grants to support or ...

Fellow, 2001 *

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

Fellow, 2006 *

Simons Investigator Award The Simons Foundation is a private foundation established in 1994 by Marilyn and James Harris Simons, 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 ...

, 2013 * Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014 * Elected to

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, 2014 * Dirac Medal of the ICTP, 2018 Dirac Medal ICTP 2018
/ref> *

Bogolyubov Prize The Bogoliubov Prize is an international award offered by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) to scientists with outstanding contribution to theoretical physics and applied mathematics. The award is issued in the memory of the theore ...

, 2019

References

External links

Home page at the University of Chicago
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dam, Thanh Son 1969 births Theoretical physicists String theorists International Mathematical Olympiad participants Vietnamese academics Vietnamese scientists Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Chicago faculty Simons Investigator MIT Center for Theoretical Physics alumni People educated at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi University of Science