Rajesh Gopakumar | |
|---|---|
 Rajesh Gopakumar atHarvard University | |
| Born | (1967-12-14)14 December 1967 (age 57) |
| Citizenship | India |
| Alma mater | IIT Kanpur (BSc,MSc) Princeton University (PhD) |
| Known for | Gopakumar–Vafa duality Gopakumar–Vafa invariant |
| Spouse | Rukmini Dey |
| Awards | Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award,ICTP Prize |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | String Theory,Theoretical Physics |
| Institutions | International Centre for Theoretical Sciences Harish-Chandra Research Institute Institute for Advanced Study |
| Doctoral advisor | David Gross |
Rajesh Gopakumar (born 1967) is an Indiantheoretical physicist and the director of theInternational Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR) inBangalore, India. He was previously a professor atHarish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) inPrayagraj, India.[1] He is known for his work ontopological string theory.
Gopakumar was born in 1967 to Jaishree and G. Gopakumar in Kolkata.[citation needed] His family hails from the southern Indian state ofKerala.[2] He has the distinction of securing All Indian Rank 1 in the examination forIIT-JEE in 1987.[3]
Gopakumar obtained his integratedM.Sc. degree inphysics from the prestigiousIIT Kanpur in 1992. He completed hisPh.D. fromPrinceton University in 1997 under the supervision ofDavid Gross. After a few years as a research associate atHarvard University, he joined HRI in 2001. He was also a visiting fellow at theInstitute for Advanced Study,Princeton, New Jersey from 2001 to 2004.[4]
He is married to Rukmini Dey, a Professor ofMathematical Physics andGeometry at ICTS-TIFR.[5]
Gopakumar is astring theorist. Earlier on in his career, his research was primarily focused on large N gauge theories withDavid Gross, noncommutative gauge theories withAndrew Strominger andShiraz Minwalla, andtopological string theory and gauge/geometry correspondence withCumrun Vafa and is particularly known for proposing theGopakumar–Vafa duality andGopakumar–Vafa invariants.[6]
Later, his work focused on attempts to derive the AdS/CFT correspondence, and on minimal model holography (withMatthias Gaberdiel). In recent years, he has made important contributions to higher spin theories and their connections with string theory (withMatthias Gaberdiel).[citation needed]He has also recently worked on theConformal bootstrap.
He was named Fellow of theGlobal Young Academy of Scientists for 2010.[1][10] He is a member of theIndian National Science Academy, and theIndian Academy of Sciences.[11]
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