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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Edward Farhi
Cecil & Ida Green Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Present interest is the theory of quantum computation.
Jeffrey Goldstone
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Famous for the discovery of the Nambu–Goldstone boson. He is currently working on quantum computation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tracy Slatyer
Professor of Physics
Research focuses on dark matter - novel theoretical models, predicting observable signals, and analysis of astrophysical and cosmological datasets.
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.
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.
Jesse Thaler
Professor of Physics
Theoretical particle physicist who fuses techniques from QFT and machine learning to address outstanding questions in fundamental physics.
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...
