Rate My Professor Juan Maldacena

Juan Maldacena is the Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study. He earned a licenciatura from the Instituto Balseiro, Universidad de Cuyo, Bariloche, Argentina, in 1991 and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1996. His career includes a research associate position at Rutgers University from 1996 to 1997, followed by faculty roles at Harvard University from 1997 to 2001, where he advanced from visiting associate professor to full professor. He joined the Institute for Advanced Study as a member in 1999, served as visiting professor in 2000–2001, and became a permanent faculty member in 2002.

Maldacena’s research focuses on quantum gravity, string theory, and quantum field theory. He proposed the AdS/CFT correspondence, a relationship between quantum gravity and quantum field theories that has advanced understanding of black holes, quantum field theories, and connections between string theory and cosmology. He has received numerous honors, including the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2012, the Lorentz Medal in 2018, the Albert Einstein Medal in 2018, the Galileo Galilei Medal in 2019, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics in 2007, and the MacArthur Fellowship in 1999. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Maldacena also holds honorary doctorates from the University of Buenos Aires and KU Leuven.