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.
We also honor the memory of esteemed members of the physics department community who have passed away, and remember their insight, creativity, collegiality, and dedication to excellence, under In Memoriam. Their contributions to scholarship, mentorship, and the department’s vibrant culture are deeply appreciated.
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Raymond Ashoori
Professor of Physics
Division Head, Atomic, Biophysical, and Condensed Matter Physics
Division Head, Atomic, Biophysical, and Condensed Matter Physics
Focus of research lies in the study of interacting electronic systems in low dimensional electronic structures.
John Belcher
Class of 1922 Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Research interests are within the areas of space plasma physics, in particular the interaction of the heliosphere with the local interstellar medium.
George Benedek
Alfred H. Caspary Professor of Physics and Biological Physics, Emeritus
Research centers on phase transitions, self-assembly and aggregation of biological molecules.
A. Nihat Berker
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Best known for his research in statistical mechanics; especially on phase transitions and critical phenomena.
William Bertozzi
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Recognized as a world leader and innovator in the field of experimental electromagnetic nuclear physics.
Edmund Bertschinger
Professor of Physics
Research in theoretical astrophysics, physics education, and in equity, diversity, and inclusion in the physical sciences and engineering.
Robert Birgeneau
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Primarily concerned with the phases and phase transition behavior of novel states of matter.
Wit Busza
Francis L. Friedman Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Known for his pioneering studies of hadron-nucleus collisions and PHOBOS experiment, which studied matter at extreme energy density and temperature.
Claude Canizares
Professor of Physics, Post-Tenure
Research in galactic and extra-galactic high energy astrophysics.
Paola Cappellaro
Ford Professor of Engineering
Professor of Physics
Professor of Physics
Specialist in spin-based quantum information processing and precision measurements in the solid state.
Deepto Chakrabarty
Professor of Physics
Department Head
Department Head
Research specialty is in high-energy astrophysics and the physics and astrophysics of neutron stars.
Arup Chakraborty
John M. Deutch Institute Professor
Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry
Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry
Understanding the mechanisms underlying the immune response to pathogens for the design of better vaccines; phase separation in gene regulation.
Joseph Checkelsky
Mitsui Career Development Associate Professor of Physics
Undergraduate Program Coordinator
Undergraduate Program Coordinator
Focuses on the study of exotic electronic states of matter through the synthesis, measurement, and control of solid state materials.
Min Chen
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Has pioneered the field of reverse Cherenkov Radiation (RCR) in left-handed material since 2003.
Soonwon Choi
Victor F. Weisskopf Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics
Research interests are focused on the intersection of quantum information science and out-of-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems.
Isaac Chuang
Professor of Physics
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
A pioneer in the field of quantum information science.
Riccardo Comin
Class of 1947 Career Development Associate Professor of Physics
Explores the novel phases of matter that can be found in electronic solids with strong interactions, also known as quantum materials.
Janet Conrad
Professor of Physics
Searches for signatures of new particles, new forces and new symmetries using neutrinos from MeV to PeV energy scales.
Bruno Coppi
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Has given basic contributions to the fields of plasma physics, nuclear fusion research, space physics and plasma astrophysics.
William Detmold
Professor of Physics
Graduate Program Faculty Coordinator
Graduate Program Faculty Coordinator
Interests are in strong interaction dynamics in theoretical particle and nuclear physics.
Anna-Christina Eilers
Assistant Professor of Physics
Observational cosmologist aiming to understand the formation and growth of supermassive black holes.
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.
Matthew Evans
Mathworks Professor of Physics
Works on providing the designs and foundations for the next generation of gravitational wave detectors.
Nikta Fakhri
Thomas D. & Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Associate Professor of Physics
Investigates non-equilibrium physics in living systems.
Edward Farhi
Cecil & Ida Green Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Present interest is the theory of quantum computation.
Peter Fisher
Thomas A. Frank (1977) Professor of Physics
Interests include the detection of dark matter, development of new particle detectors, compact energy supplies, and wireless energy transmission.
Richard Fletcher
Assistant Professor of Physics
Utilizes exquisitely controlled ultracold atomic gases to synthesize exotic quantum matter hard or even impossible to realize in nature.
Joseph Formaggio
Professor of Physics
Explores the nature of neutrinos and their deep connection between particle physics, quantum mechanics and cosmology.
Anna Frebel
Professor of Physics
Division Head for Astrophysics
Division Head for Astrophysics
Best known for her discoveries and spectroscopic analyses of the oldest, most metal-poor stars in the Milky Way and small dwarf galaxies.
Daniel Freedman
Professor of Applied Mathematics and Physics, Emeritus
Discovered supergravity at StonyBrook University with Sergio Ferrrara and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen in 1976.
Jerome Friedman
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Institute Professor, Emeritus
1990 Nobel Laureate
Institute Professor, Emeritus
1990 Nobel Laureate
Experiments in which high-energy electron scattering uncovered the constituents of the proton and neutrons led to the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Liang Fu
Professor of Physics
Concerned with the application of topology in solid state physics to predict new phases of matter and topological materials.
Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz
Thomas A. Frank Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics
Focused on the study of atoms and molecules containing short-lived radioactive nuclei for fundamental physics research.
Nuh Gedik
Donner Professor of Physics
His research centers on using advanced optical techniques for probing and controlling properties of quantum materials.
Jeffrey Goldstone
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Famous for the discovery of the Nambu–Goldstone boson. He is currently working on quantum computation.
Jeff Gore
Professor of Physics
Uses experimentally tractable laboratory microcosms to explore how interactions between individuals drives the evolution and ecology of communities.
Thomas Greytak
Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus
With his colleague Daniel Kleppner, he helped to pioneer the field of Bose-Einstein condensation and quantum gasses.
Lee Grodzins
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
He has performed many profound and pioneering experiments, including groundbreaking measurements key to our understanding of the weak interaction.
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.
Philip Harris
Associate Professor of Physics
Building real-time deep learning systems to search for dark matter and understand the Higgs boson
Or Hen
Class of 1956 Career Development Associate Professor of Physics
Focuses on studies of QCD in the nuclear medium, and the development on the new Electron-Ion Collider.
Jacqueline Hewitt
Julius A. Stratton Professor of Physics
Current research interests are in radio astronomy investigations of the Cosmic Dawn.
Scott Hughes
Professor of Physics
Professor Hughes' research is in astrophysical general relativity, focusing in particular upon black holes and gravitational-wave sources.
Gian Michele Innocenti
Assistant Professor of Physics
Research focuses on characterizing high-density and temperature QCD matter with ultra-peripheral and head-on heavy-ion collisions.
Erich Ippen
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Elihu Thomson Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus
Elihu Thomson Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus
Ippen is a principal investigator in the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE).
Mikhail Ivanov
Assistant Professor of Physics
Research focuses on large-scale structure, effective field theories, black holes, and astrophysical and cosmological data analysis.
Robert Jaffe
Otto (1939) and Jane Morningstar Professor of Science, Post-Tenure
Best known for his research on the quark substructure of matter.
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics
Best known for his groundbreaking research on twistronics.
John Joannopoulos
Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics
Helped spawn the development of Photonic Crystals which have revolutionized the fields of optical and lightwave physics.
Steven Johnson
Professor of Mathematics and Physics
Nanophotonics and the influence of complex geometries on wave phenomena — both analytical theory and computational design.
Paul Joss
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Also the principal investigator of an ISS National Lab project focused on tropical cyclones, which are also called hurricanes and typhoons.
Long Ju
Lawrence and Sarah W. Biedenharn Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics
Research focuses on understanding light-matter interactions and electron transport in novel quantum materials.
David Kaiser
Professor of Physics
Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science (STS)
Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science (STS)
Research focuses on early-universe cosmology, foundations of quantum theory, and history of modern physics.
Erin Kara
Associate Professor of Physics
Class of 1958 Career Development Chair
Class of 1958 Career Development Chair
An observational astrophysicist, working to understand the physics behind how black holes grow and affect their environments.
Mehran Kardar
Francis Friedman Professor of Physics
Interests include non-equilibrium collective behavior, disordered systems, soft matter, fluctuation-induced phenomena, and biophysics.
Marc Kastner
Donner Professor of Science, Emeritus
His research group at MIT discovered the single electron transistor in 1990.
Wolfgang Ketterle
John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics
2001 Nobel Laureate
2001 Nobel Laureate
Creation of first gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate led to being co-recipient of 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Daniel Kleppner
Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus
With his colleague Thomas Greytak, he helped to pioneer the field of Bose-Einstein condensation and quantum gasses.
Stanley Kowalski
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
His career at MIT was centered on accelerator physics and nuclear physics research.
Patrick Lee
William & Emma Rogers Professor of Physics, Post-Tenure
A pioneer in "mesoscopic physics," the study of small devices at low temperatures.
Yen-Jie Lee
Class of 1958 Career Development Professor of Physics
Has pioneered studies of high-density QCD with electron-position annihilation data.
Leonid Levitov
Professor of Physics
A pioneer in the theory of quasicrystals — orderly materials with non-crystallographic symmetries, discovered in 1985.
J. David Litster
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Research interests have been the experimental study of phase transitions in unusual states of matter.
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.
Earle Lomon
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Research interest is quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the dynamics of quarks and gluons.
Nuno Loureiro
Herman Feshbach (1942) Professor of Physics
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Focuses on theory and simulations of astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.
Kiyoshi Masui
Associate Professor of Physics
Radio astronomer and cosmologist, whose work spans theory, data analysis, observations, and instrumentation.
June Matthews
Professor of Physics, Emerita
Her research interests are in within the area of intermediate-energy nuclear physics with electromagnetic and hadronic probes.
Nergis Mavalvala
Curtis (1963) and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics
Dean, MIT School of Science
Dean, MIT School of Science
Focuses on the detection of gravitational waves and quantum measurement science.
Michael McDonald
Associate Professor of Physics
Focuses on the evolution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and the role that environment plays in dictating this evolution.
Max Metlitski
Associate Professor of Physics
Interested in understanding so-called topological phases, such as quantum Hall states and topological insulators.
Sarah Millholland
Assistant Professor of Physics
Focuses on understanding the demographics, formation, and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems using data-driven dynamics.
Richard Milner
Professor of Physics
Focused on studying the spin structure of strongly interacting systems.
Leonid Mirny
Richard J. Cohen (1976) Professor in Medicine and Biomedical Physics, and Physics, MIT
Associate Member, Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT
Associate Member, Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT
Genome folding in 3D: understanding physical mechanisms that cells use to fold, to pack, to repair and to control their genetic material.
Ernest Moniz
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Post-Tenure
Current research interests are centered on energy, science and technology, and national security policy.
Lina Necib
Assistant Professor of Physics
As a theoretical astroparticle physicist, I work on using Galactic dynamics to understand properties of Dark Matter.
John Negele
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Interested in lattice field theory to solve QCD and thereby understand the structure of nucleons in terms of their quark and gluon constituents.
William Oliver
Professor of Physics
Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Is a recognized leader in the quantum engineering of extensible superconducting quantum circuits.
Christoph Paus
Professor of Physics
Co-lead (as one of two lead investigators) the CMS Experiment team in its search for the Higgs boson, discovered in 2012.
Irwin A. Pless
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Has made significant contributions to the fields of Experimental Particle Physics, Heavy ion collisions research, and Neutrino Astrophysics.
Miklos Porkolab
Professor Post-Tenure
Pioneering studies of nonlinear wave-particle interactions and turbulence in laboratory, tokamak and stellarator plasmas, including RF current drive.
David Pritchard
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, Post-Tenure
Carried out pioneering experiments on the interaction of atoms with light that led to the creation of the field of atom optics.
Krishna Rajagopal
William A. M. Burden Professor of Physics
Probing the properties, microstructure and phase diagram of hot QCD matter, the primordial liquid.
Saul Rappaport
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Interests centered on theoretical studies of the formation, evolution, and population synthesis of binary systems containing collapsed stars.
Robert Redwine
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Current research is focussed on the search for a non-zero value of the electric dipole moment of the neutron.
Gunther Roland
Professor of Physics
Division Head, Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics
Division Head, Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics
Studies emergent properties of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions, such as those achieved in high energy nuclear collisions.
Lawrence Rosenson
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Paul Schechter
William A. M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics, Emeritus
Played a major role in the development and implementation of the active optics system for the 6.5-m Magellan Telescopes.
Sara Seager
Professor of Physics
Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science
Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science
Current research interests are focused upon exoplanet atmospheres, interiors, and signs of life by way of exoplanet atmospheric biosignature gases.
Phiala Shanahan
Class of 1957 Career Development Associate Professor of Physics
Research focuses on particle and nuclear theory and applying machine learning to understand the fundamental interactions of nature.
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.
Robert Simcoe
Francis L. Friedman Professor of Physics
Director, MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Director, MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Studies formation of the earliest stars and galaxies by constructing custom built spectrometers for major astronomical observatories.
Tracy Slatyer
Professor of Physics
Research focuses on dark matter - novel theoretical models, predicting observable signals, and analysis of astrophysical and cosmological datasets.
Eluned Smith
Assistant Professor of Physics
Uses rare beauty decays to search for new fundamental particles at mass scales above the collision energy of the LHC
Marin Soljačić
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics
Focuses on nanophotonics, and on intersections between AI and Physics.
Iain Stewart
Otto (1939) and Jane Morningstar Professorship in Science
Professor of Physics
Professor of Physics
Designs and applies Effective Field Theories to describe physics at collider experiments and to explore the structure of quantum field theory.
Julien Tailleur
Associate Professor of Physics
Works on non-equilibrium systems, active matter and their biophysical applications.
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.
Max Tegmark
Professor of Physics
Research focuses on linking physics and machine learning: using AI for physics and physics for AI.
Jesse Thaler
Professor of Physics
Theoretical particle physicist who fuses techniques from QFT and machine learning to address outstanding questions in fundamental physics.
Samuel C.C. Ting
Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Physics
1976 Nobel Laureate
1976 Nobel Laureate
Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976, which he shared with Burton Richter, for the discovery of the J/ψ meson nuclear particle.
Senthil Todadri
Professor of Physics
Interested in novel phases and phase transitions of quantum matter that are beyond the paradigms of Fermi liquid theory and/or broken symmetry.
Andrew Vanderburg
Bruno B. Rossi Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics
Explores the use of machine learning, especially deep neural networks, in exoplanet detection.
Salvatore Vitale
Associate Professor of Physics
Focuses on data analysis for gravitational waves signals detected with the LIGO instruments.
Mark Vogelsberger
Professor of Physics
Uses of high-performance supercomputers to study structure and galaxy formation, dark matter physics, and large-scale hydrodynamical simulations.
Vladan Vuletić
Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics
Professor Vuletic's research includes precision measurements, large-scale quantum entanglement, quantum optics, quantum simulation and computing.
Rainer Weiss
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
2017 Nobel Laureate
2017 Nobel Laureate
LIGO inventor shares 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for direct detection of gravitational waves.
Xiao-Gang Wen
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics
Introduced the notion of topological order (1989) and quantum order (2002), to describe a new class of matter states.
Frank Wilczek
Herman Feshbach Professor Post-Tenure of Physics
2004 Nobel Laureate
2004 Nobel Laureate
Known for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the development of quantum chromodynamics, the invention of axions, and more...
Michael Williams
Professor of Physics
Focused on searching for dark matter, studying emergent properties of QCD, and incorporating physics intelligence into artificial intelligence.
Lindley Winslow
Professor of Physics
Associate Department Head
Associate Department Head
Currently focuses on searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay and axion dark matter.
Boleslaw Wyslouch
Professor of Physics
Director, Laboratory for Nuclear Science and Bates Research and Engineering Center
Director, Laboratory for Nuclear Science and Bates Research and Engineering Center
Studies extremely hot and dense states of nuclear matter, focusing on the very energetic collisions of heavy ions.
James Edward Young
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Researched and taught theoretical particle physics, critical phenomena and nuclear physics in the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics.
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.
Martin Zwierlein
Thomas A. Frank (1977) Professor of Physics
Experiments on strongly interacting quantum gases of atoms and molecules, to realize and advance our understanding of novel states of matter.
