Biography:Alexander Vilenkin

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Alexander Vilenkin
Олександр Віленкін;
AlexanderVilenkin.JPG
Vilenkin at Harvard University, 2005
Born (1949-05-13) May 13, 1949 (age 75)
Kharkiv,[1] Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity at Buffalo
Known forEternal inflation
Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem
Cosmic strings
Scientific career
FieldsPhysical cosmology
InstitutionsTufts University

Alexander Vilenkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Виле́нкин; Ukrainian: Олександр Віленкін; born 13 May 1949) is the Leonard Jane Holmes Bernstein Professor of Evolutionary Science and Director of the Institute of Cosmology at Tufts University.[2][3] A theoretical physicist who has been working in the field of cosmology for 25 years, Vilenkin has written over 260 publications.[4]

Biography

As an undergraduate studying physics at the University of Kharkiv, Vilenkin turned down a job offer from the KGB, causing him being blacklisted from pursuing a graduate degree.[5][6] Then he was drafted onto a building brigade and later worked at the state zoo as a night watchman while conducting physics research in his spare time.[5][7]

In 1976, Vilenkin immigrated to the United States as a Jewish refugee,[7] obtaining his Ph.D. at Buffalo. His work has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles in the United States, Europe, Soviet Union, and Japan, and in many popular books.[citation needed]

Work

In 1982, Paul Steinhardt presented the first model of eternal inflation, Vilenkin showed that eternal inflation is generic.[8] Furthermore, working with Arvind Borde and Alan Guth, he developed the Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem, showing that a period of inflation must have a beginning and that a period of time must precede it.[9] This represents a problem for the theory of inflation because, without a theory to explain conditions before inflation, it is not possible to determine how likely it is for inflation to have occurred. Evidence exists[clarification needed] to suggest that the probability is very small, resulting in an initial conditions problem.[citation needed]

He also introduced the idea of quantum creation of the universe from a quantum vacuum. Moreover, his work in cosmic strings has been pivotal.[clarification needed][according to whom?]

He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1989 "for pioneering research in the application of particle physics to cosmology, and in particular for seminal contributions in the areas of cosmic strings and quantum cosmology". [10]

Books

References

External links