Rajesh Gopakumar (born 1967 in Kolkata, India) is a theoretical physicist and the director of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR) in Bangalore, India. He was previously a professor at

Harish-Chandra Research Institute The Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) is an institution dedicated to research in mathematics and theoretical physics, located in Allahabad (officially Prayagraj), Uttar Pradesh in India. Established in 1975, HRI offers masters and doctora ...

(HRI) in Prayagraj, India. He is known for his work on topological string theory.

Background

Gopakumar was born in 1967 to Jaishree and G. Gopakumar in Kolkata. His family hails from the southern Indian state of Kerala. He has the distinction of being ranked 1 in the entrance examination for

IIT The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are central government owned public technical institutes located across India. They are under the ownership of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. They are governed by the Institu ...

in 1987. Gopakumar obtained his integrated

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in physics from the IIT Kanpur in 1992. He completed his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1997 under the supervision of David Gross. After a few years as a research associate at Harvard University, he joined HRI in 2001. He was also a visiting fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey from 2001 to 2004. He is married to Rukmini Dey, a Professor of Mathematical Physics and Geometry at ICTS-TIFR.

Research

Gopakumar is a string theorist. Early in his career, his research was primarily focused on large N gauge theories with David Gross, noncommutative gauge theories with Andrew Strominger and Shiraz Minwalla, and topological string theory and gauge/geometry correspondence with Cumrun Vafa and is particularly known for proposing the Gopakumar–Vafa duality and Gopakumar–Vafa invariants. Later, his work focussed on attempts to derive the AdS/CFT correspondence, and on minimal model holography (with

Matthias Gaberdiel Matthias Gaberdiel (born June 25, 1966, in Offenburg, Germany) is a theoretical physicist and full professor at ETH Zurich. He is known for his work on Higher-spin theory and Conformal field theory. Research Gaberdiel works on string theory and co ...

). In recent years, he has made important contributions to higher spin theories and their connections with string theory (with

). He has also recently worked on the Conformal bootstrap.

Awards

Gopakumar was awarded the 2004 B.M. Birla Science Prize in Physics. He received the 2006 ICTP Prize. He received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 2009. He was named Fellow of the

Global Young Academy The Global Young Academy is an international society of young scientists, aiming to give a voice to young scientists across the globe.... Membership strength is capped at 200, and the membership tenure is 5 years. Organization and membership Th ...

of Scientists for 2010. He is a member of the Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences.GYA member listing
, retrieved 2011-03-23. He received

TWAS Prize This is a list of recipients of the TWAS Prize, awarded annually by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). Summary Agricultural Sciences Biology Chemistry Earth Sciences Engineering Sciences Mathematics Medical Sc ...

in Physics in 2013.

Selected publications

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List of R. Gopakumar's Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gopakumar, Rajesh 1967 births Living people 20th-century Indian physicists Indian string theorists Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Physical Science IIT Kanpur alumni Scientists from Kolkata TWAS laureates