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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A. Nihat Berker
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Best known for his research in statistical mechanics; especially on phase transitions and critical phenomena.
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.
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.
Liang Fu
Professor of Physics
Concerned with the application of topology in solid state physics to predict new phases of matter and topological materials.
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.
Mehran Kardar
Francis Friedman Professor of Physics
Interests include non-equilibrium collective behavior, disordered systems, soft matter, fluctuation-induced phenomena, and biophysics.
Patrick Lee
William & Emma Rogers Professor of Physics, Post-Tenure
A pioneer in "mesoscopic physics," the study of small devices at low temperatures.
Leonid Levitov
Professor of Physics
A pioneer in the theory of quasicrystals — orderly materials with non-crystallographic symmetries, discovered in 1985.
Max Metlitski
Associate Professor of Physics
Interested in understanding so-called topological phases, such as quantum Hall states and topological insulators.
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.
Marin Soljačić
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics
Focuses on nanophotonics, and on intersections between AI and Physics.
Julien Tailleur
Associate Professor of Physics
Works on non-equilibrium systems, active matter and their biophysical applications.
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.
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.
