Moreover, by applying his physical intuition and mathematical skills, he has advanced mathematics, and prompted the cutting-edge research of many mathematicians. Edward Witten (born August 26, 1951) is an American mathematical and theoretical physicist. [33][34] Pope Benedict XVI appointed Witten as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (2006). [38], Witten has been married to Chiara Nappi, a professor of physics at Princeton University, since 1979. [9], Witten attended the Park School of Baltimore (class of '68), and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in history and minor in linguistics from Brandeis University in 1971. Retrieved 14 October 2014.

[14] He held a fellowship at Harvard University (1976–77), visited Oxford University (1977–78),[3][15] was a junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (1977–1980), and held a MacArthur Foundation fellowship (1982).[4]. He held an appointment at Princeton (1980–87) before moving to the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, in 1987. Afterwards, he opted for applied mathematics as his major at Princeton University. In 1979, Witten married a professor of physics at Princeton University, Chiara Nappi and they now have two daughters, a son and a granddaughter. Error rating book. [8] He is the son of Lorraine (née Wollach) Witten and Louis Witten, a theoretical physicist specializing in gravitation and general relativity. [7], Witten was born on August 26, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Jewish family.

His early research interests were in electromagnetism, but he soon developed an interest in what is now known as superstring theory in mathematical physics. He was awarded several accolades to honor his work to mathematics and physics. Besides these, Witten is recognized for his contribution and development of M-theory, Seiberg–Witten theory, Weinberg–Witten theorem, Vafa–Witten theorem and Witten index along with other major works. Subsequently, Witten resumed his academic career as he went to University of Wisconsin to study economics but after a semester he dropped out. The National Science & Technology Medals Foundation is a District of Columbia non-profit corporation and is not affiliated with the United States Government.

Witten has been honored with numerous awards including a MacArthur Grant (1982), the Fields Medal (1990), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1997),[30] the Nemmers Prize in Mathematics (2000), the National Medal of Science[31] (2002), Pythagoras Award[32] (2005), the Henri Poincaré Prize (2006), the Crafoord Prize (2008), the Lorentz Medal (2010) the Isaac Newton Medal (2010) and the Fundamental Physics Prize (2012). in 1971. While the original proof of this result due to Richard Schoen and Shing-Tung Yau used variational methods,[20][21] Witten's proof used ideas from supergravity theory to simplify the argument.

He has greatly contributed to the modern interest in superstrings as a candidate theory for … [36][37], In an informal poll at a 1990 cosmology conference, Witten received the largest number of mentions as "the smartest living physicist". While the other daughter, Daniela, holds a position at University of Washington as a biostatistician. See if your friends have read any of Edward Witten's books. Edward Witten – Adventures in physics and math (Kyoto Prize lecture 2014), Witten biography - MacTutor History of Mathematics, "Are You Listening, D.H. Although he is definitely a physicist (as his list of publications clearly shows) his command of mathematics is rivaled by few mathematicians, and his ability to interpret physical ideas in mathematical form is quite unique. Edward Witten is a celebrated contemporary American mathematician and a physicist. Since 1999, he has been a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (London), and in March 2016 was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.