Professor Renata Kallosh

On Friday June 13^th 2014 Renata Kallosh, Professor of Physics (Stanford University) will receive an honorary doctorate of the University of Groningen, on the occasion of the `University of Groningen 400 years’ event. Honorary doctorates are presented to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to society, academia or politics.

World leading theoretical physicist

Professor Kallosh is a renowned theoretical physicist who has made crucial contributions to a wide range of fields in theoretical physics such as quantum gravity, supersymmetry, black holes and inflation in string theory. Her early work on quantum gravity plays an important role in recent computations showing a better than expected ultraviolet behavior of extended supergravity theories. Her work on the interplay between supersymmetry, black holes, attractors and geometry has been very influential and has contributed to a better understanding of the mysteries of black holes physics. She is one of the inventors of the attractor mechanism in black hole physics. Her work on De Sitter vacua in string theory, which is relevant for understanding the accelerated expansion of our Universe, continues to be a driving force behind many of the new developments at the interface of string theory and cosmology.

Programme June 2014:
On the occasion of her visit to Groningen during the University Lustrum, Professor Kallosh will give a general Colloquium in her field on Thursday June 12 ^th at the Faculty of Science and Engineering (formerly known as the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences).

RENATA KALLOSH

Professor Kallosh obtained her PhD in 1968 at the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. She became a professor at the Lebedev Institute in 1981. In 1989 she left Moscow and spent two years as a Scientific Associate at the CERN research facility in Switzerland. In 1990 she became a Professor of Physics at Stanford University. During her long career she received several awards for her pioneering contributions such as the Humboldt International Research Award (2005-2008) and the Lise Meitner prize of Göteborg University and Chalmers (2009).

Research:

Her research focusses on the general structure of theories of quantum gravity such as supergravity and string theory, and on the applications these theories have to cosmology. She develops string theory models explaining the origin of the universe and its current acceleration. Professor Kallosh works, in particular, on future tests of string theory by CMB data and on the relation between the gravitino mass and the amplitude of gravitational waves produced during inflation. Recently, she has been re-investigating the quantum properties of extended supergravity.

Professor Kallosh has strong ties with the Centre for Theoretical Physics (CTN) in Groningen. She wrote many papers with members of the CTN.