Edward Witten

Edward Witten
Witten giving a speech at Chalmers tekniska högskola, Göteborg, Sweden, April 29, 2008
Born	(1951-08-26) August 26, 1951 (age 65) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Residence	Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality	American
Fields	Theoretical physics Superstring theory
Institutions	Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University Oxford University California Institute of Technology Princeton University
Alma mater	Brandeis University (B.A., 1971) University of Wisconsin, Madison (no degree) Princeton University (M.A., 1974; Ph.D., 1976)
Doctoral advisor	David Gross
Other academic advisors	Sidney Coleman Michael Atiyah
Doctoral students	Cumrun Vafa Xiao-Gang Wen Eva Silverstein Shamit Kachru Tamar Friedmann Sergei Gukov Dror Bar-Natan
Known for	M-theory Seiberg–Witten theory Seiberg–Witten invariants Wess–Zumino–Witten model Weinberg–Witten theorem Gromov–Witten invariant Hořava–Witten domain wall Vafa–Witten theorem Witten index
Notable awards	MacArthur Fellowship (1982) Dirac Medal (1985) Albert Einstein Medal (1985) Fields Medal (1990) Alan T. Waterman Award (1995) Dannie Heineman Prize (1998) Nemmers Prize (2000) National Medal of Science (2002) Harvey Prize (2005) Henri Poincaré Prize (2006) Crafoord Prize (2008) Lorentz Medal (2010) Isaac Newton Medal (2010) Fundamental Physics Prize (2012) Kyoto Prize (2014) Albert Einstein Award (2016)
Spouse	Chiara Nappi
Children	Daniela Witten, Ilana Witten, Rafael Witten
Website www.sns.ias.edu/witten

Edward Witten (/ˈwɪtən/; born August 26, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist and professor of mathematical physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

Witten is a researcher in string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetric quantum field theories, and other areas of mathematical physics.

In addition to his contributions to physics, Witten's work has significantly impacted pure mathematics. In 1990 he became the first and so far the only physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal by the International Mathematical Union. In 2004, Time magazine stated that Witten is widely thought to be the world's smartest living theoretical physicist.

Witten was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Jewish family. He is the son of Lorraine (Wollach) Witten and Louis Witten, a theoretical physicist specializing in gravitation and general relativity.

Witten attended the Park School of Baltimore (class of '68), and received his Bachelor of Arts with a major in history and minor in linguistics from Brandeis University in 1971. He published articles in The New Republic and The Nation. In 1968, Witten published an article in The Nation arguing that the New Left had no strategy. He worked briefly for George McGovern's presidential campaign.