Faculty
The MIT Physics Department is one of the best places in the world for research and education in physics. We have been ranked the number one physics department since 2002 by US News & World Report.
We have three current and two retired faculty members who have won a Nobel Prize in Physics, nine total since 1964. We have also been the source of innovation in physics education for decades. Eight members of our Department have won the Oersted Medal, the most prestigious award of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
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Netta Engelhardt
Biedenharn Career Development Associate Professor of Physics
Research focuses on understanding the predictions and fundamental structure of quantum gravity via holography and the black hole information paradox.
Daniel Freedman
Professor of Applied Mathematics and Physics, Emeritus
Discovered supergravity at StonyBrook University with Sergio Ferrrara and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen in 1976.
Jeffrey Goldstone
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Famous for the discovery of the Nambu–Goldstone boson. He is currently working on quantum computation.
Alan Guth
Victor F. Weisskopf Professor of Physics
In 1981, he proposed that many features of our universe can be explained by a new cosmological model which he called inflation.
Daniel Harlow
Jerrold R. Zacharias Career Development Associate Professor of Physics
Works on combining quantum mechanics and gravity, focusing on the quantum-mechanical aspects of black holes and cosmology.
Mikhail Ivanov
Assistant Professor of Physics
Research focuses on large-scale structure, effective field theories, black holes, and astrophysical and cosmological data analysis.
Hong Liu
Professor of Physics
Interested in issues in quantum gravity, such as the quantum nature of black holes and the Big Bang singularity, using the framework of string theory.
Krishna Rajagopal
William A. M. Burden Professor of Physics
Probing the properties, microstructure and phase diagram of hot QCD matter, the primordial liquid.
Shu-Heng Shao
Assistant Professor of Physics
Focuses on generalizing the symmetry principle in quantum field theories and lattice models, with applications in HEP, CMT, and quantum gravity.
Washington Taylor
Professor of Physics
Director, Center for Theoretical Physics
Director, Center for Theoretical Physics
Research is centered on basic theoretical questions related to quantum physics and gravity.
Barton Zwiebach
Professor of Physics
Contributed to the early work on the construction of open string field theory and then developed the field theory of closed strings.
