Shiraz Naval Minwalla (born 2 January 1972) is an Indian

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

and

string theorist In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and intera ...

. He is a faculty member in the Department of Theoretical Physics at

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a leading research Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is a public deemed university located at Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai. It also has a centres in ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Prior to his present position, Minwalla was a Harvard Junior Fellow and subsequently an assistant professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Early life

Born in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India, in 1972, to a

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

father (Naval) and a Bohra Muslim mother (Khadija), Minwalla graduated from

Campion School, Mumbai Campion School is a Private school, private Catholic school, Catholic primary and secondary school for boys located at 13 Cooperage Road, Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra, India. Established in 1943 by Jesuit Fr. Joseph Savall, the school is ...

in 1988 and then

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of National Importance by ...

in 1995. He later moved to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

to earn his PhD under the guidance of Nathan Seiberg.

Awards

Minwalla was awarded the Swarnajayanti Fellowship 2005–06 by the Department of Science & Technology,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. He was awarded the

ICTP Prize The International Centre for Theoretical Physics Prize (ICTP Prize) is an annual award given by the ICTP Scientific Council since 1982. It is given to outstanding and original contributions in physics by young scientists from, and working in, devel ...

in 2010 and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, the highest science award in India, in the physical sciences category in 2011. He was awarded the Infosys Prize 2013 in the field of Physical Sciences by the Infosys Science Foundation. Minwalla was awarded the 2014 New Horizons in Physics Prize by the Fundamental Physics Prize for "his pioneering contributions to the study of string theory and quantum field theory; and in particular his work on the connection between the equations of fluid dynamics and Albert Einstein's equations of general relativity." In 2016,

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) is a North–south research partnerships, merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting more than 1,400 scientists in some 1 ...

awarded him the

TWAS Prize This is a list of recipients of the TWAS Prize, awarded annually by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) since 1985. Summary Agricultural Sciences Biology Chemistry Earth Sciences Engineering Sciences Mathematics ...

in Physics.

Notable contributions to the field

* Analysis of primary operators on AdS4 and AdS7 * Three-point functions in N=4 supersymmetric

Yang–Mills theory Yang–Mills theory is a quantum field theory for nuclear binding devised by Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills in 1953, as well as a generic term for the class of similar theories. The Yang–Mills theory is a gauge theory based on a special un ...

and AdS/CFT *

Noncommutative In mathematics, a binary operation is commutative if changing the order of the operands does not change the result. It is a fundamental property of many binary operations, and many mathematical proofs depend on it. Perhaps most familiar as a p ...

perturbative dynamics (with Nathan Seiberg and Mark Van Raamsdonk) * Noncommutative

soliton In mathematics and physics, a soliton is a nonlinear, self-reinforcing, localized wave packet that is , in that it preserves its shape while propagating freely, at constant velocity, and recovers it even after collisions with other such local ...

s (with

Andrew Strominger Andrew Eben Strominger (; born 1955) is an American theoretical physicist who is the director of Harvard's Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature. He has made significant contributions to quantum gravity and string theory. These include his ...

and Rajesh Gopakumar) * OM-theory (with Nathan Seiberg,

and Rajesh Gopakumar) * Stringy interactions in pp-waves * Some insights about

tachyon condensation Tachyon condensation is a process in particle physics in which a system can lower its potential energy by spontaneously producing particles. The end result is a "condensate" of particles that fills the volume of the system. Tachyon condensation is ...

* Dualities in supersymmetric gauge theories, in particular Chern-Simons-matter theories * Fluid-Gravity correspondence, the connections between hydrodynamics and AdS/CFT.(with Sayantani Bhattacharyya)

Personal life

Shiraz Minwalla lives in

with his wife and their two children.

Selected works

References

External links

*
Shiraz Minwalla's articles in the INSPIRE-HEP database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minwalla, Shiraz 21st-century Indian physicists Indian string theorists Princeton University alumni Harvard University faculty IIT Kanpur alumni Living people Indian theoretical physicists Academic staff of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Scientists from Mumbai TWAS laureates Parsi people from Mumbai Parsi people Dawoodi Bohras 1972 births