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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Astrophysics Theory

Edmund Bertschinger

Professor of Physics
Research in theoretical astrophysics, physics education, and in equity, diversity, and inclusion in the physical sciences and engineering.

Anna Frebel

Professor of Physics
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.
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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.

Scott Hughes

Professor of Physics
Professor Hughes' research is in astrophysical general relativity, focusing in particular upon black holes and gravitational-wave sources.

Mikhail Ivanov

Assistant Professor of Physics
Research focuses on large-scale structure, effective field theories, black holes, and astrophysical and cosmological data analysis.
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David Kaiser

Professor of Physics
Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science (STS)
Research focuses on early-universe cosmology, foundations of quantum theory, and history of modern physics.

Nuno Loureiro

Herman Feshbach (1942) Professor of Physics
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Focuses on theory and simulations of astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.

Sarah Millholland

Assistant Professor of Physics
Focuses on understanding the demographics, formation, and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems using data-driven dynamics.

Lina Necib

Assistant Professor of Physics
As a theoretical astroparticle physicist, I work on using Galactic dynamics to understand properties of Dark Matter.

Tracy Slatyer

Professor of Physics
Research focuses on dark matter - novel theoretical models, predicting observable signals, and analysis of astrophysical and cosmological datasets.
Tracy Slatyer poses in front of blackboard covered in physics equations

Max Tegmark

Professor of Physics
Research focuses on linking physics and machine learning: using AI for physics and physics for AI.

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.
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