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Edward Witten

File:Edward_Witten.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Edward Witten

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Also known as Ed Witten

American theoretical physicist

OverviewAI-generated

Edward Witten is an American mathematician, physicist, and university teacher born in Baltimore in 1951. He works in physics, mathematical physics, and string theory, and is notably associated with M-theory. Witten has been employed by Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, and he resides in Princeton. He was educated at Brandeis University, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Princeton University. His doctoral advisor was David Gross.

Witten is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received the Fields medal, the MacArthur Fellows Program award, the Isaac Newton Medal, and the Lorentz Medal. He is recognized in collections held by the Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and others. Witten speaks English and is the father of Daniela Witten.

Synthesized by Vinony from 26 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Edward
Gender
male
Citizenship
United States
Place of birth
Baltimore
Languages spoken
English language
Notable work
M-theory
Doctoral advisor
David Gross
Field of work
string theory
Official website
www.ias.edu/sns/witten
Image
Edward Witten.jpg
Residence
Princeton
Show 7 more facts
Commons category
Edward Witten
date of birth
1951-01-01
Erdős number
3
Commons gallery
Edward Witten
name in native language
Edward Witten
maintained by WikiProject
WikiProject Mathematics
Sources (12)

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Encyclopedic overview

Edward Witten (born August 26, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, and various areas of mathematics. He is a professor emeritus in the school of natural sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetric quantum field theories, and other areas of mathematical physics. Witten's work has also significantly impacted pure mathematics. In 1990, he became the first physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal by the International Mathematical Union, for his mathematical insights in physics, such as his 1981 proof of the positive energy theorem in general relativity, and his interpretation of the Jones invariants of knots as Feynman integrals. He is considered the practical founder of M-theory.

Early life and education

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Edward Witten” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)