Brian Greene

Brian Greene
Brian Greene, February 28, 2012
Born	Brian Randolph Greene (1963-02-09) February 9, 1963 (age 54) New York City, New York, U.S.
Residence	United States
Nationality	American
Fields	Physics
Institutions	Cornell University Columbia University
Alma mater	Harvard University Magdalen College, Oxford
Doctoral advisor	Graham G. Ross James Binney
Known for	String theory The Elegant Universe The Fabric of the Cosmos The Hidden Reality
Notable awards	Andrew Gemant Award (2003)
Spouse	Tracy Day

Brian Randolph Greene (born February 9, 1963) is an American theoretical physicist and string theory theorist. He has been a professor at Columbia University since 1996 and chairman of the World Science Festival since co-founding it in 2008. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi–Yau manifolds (concretely, relating the conifold to one of its orbifolds). He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, showing that topology in string theory can change at the conifold point.

Greene has become known to a wider audience through his books for the general public, The Elegant Universe, Icarus at the Edge of Time, The Fabric of the Cosmos, The Hidden Reality, and related PBS television specials. He also appeared on The Big Bang Theory episode "The Herb Garden Germination", as well as the films Frequency and The Last Mimzy. He is currently a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Greene was born in New York City. His father, Alan Greene, was a one-time vaudeville performer and high school dropout who later worked as a voice coach and composer. He stated in an interview with Lawrence Krauss that he is of Jewish heritage. After attending Stuyvesant High School, Greene entered Harvard in 1980 to concentrate on physics. After completing his bachelor's degree, Greene earned his doctorate from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, graduating in 1987. While at Oxford, Greene also studied piano with the concert pianist Jack Gibbons.