Lisa Randall (born
18 June, 1962) is a leading
theoretical physicist and expert on
particle physics, string theory and
cosmology. She works on several of the competing models of
string theory in the quest to explain the fabric of the universe, and was the first tenured
woman in the
Princeton University physics department and the first tenured female
theoretical physicist at
MIT and
Harvard University. Her work has attracted enormous interest and is among the most cited in all of
science. In common with other researchers in this field, however, none of her theoretical work has yet been confirmed by experiment.
Randall studies
particle physics and
cosmology at
Harvard University, where she is a
professor of
theoretical physics. Her research concerns
elementary particles and fundamental forces, and has involved the study of a wide variety of models, the most recent involving
extra dimensions of space. She has also worked on
supersymmetry, Standard Model observables,
cosmic inflation, baryogenesis, grand unified theories, general relativity, and
string theory. Professor Randall recently completed a book entitled
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions, which was included in the New York Times' 100 notable books of 2005.
Randall earned her PhD from Harvard University and held professorships at MIT and Princeton University before returning to Harvard in 2001. She is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the
American Physical Society, and is a past winner of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, a DOE Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, and the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. In 2003, she received the Premio Caterina Tomassoni e Felice Pietro Chisesi Award, from the University of Rome, La Sapienza. In autumn, 2004, she was the most cited theoretical physicist of the previous five years. In 2006, she received the Klopsted Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Prof Randall was featured in Seed Magazine's “2005 Year in Science Icons ” and in Newsweek 's “Who's Next in 2006”. She has helped organize numerous conferences and has been on the editorial board of several major theoretical physics journals.
Randall is an alumna of
Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics and graduated from
Stuyvesant High School in 1980, where she was a classmate of fellow physicist and science popularizer
Brian Greene. Randall earned a BA from Harvard in
1983, and obtained her Ph.D. in particle physics in
1987 under the direction of
Howard Georgi. Georgi considers her his all-time best student. She was made a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. Randall was featured in
Newsweek magazine's "Who's Next" issue of
January 2, 2006, as "one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation."
Randall's sister,
Dana Randall, is a professor of computer science at
Georgia Tech.
Randall was the subject of
The Discover Interview (pgs. 50-53) in the July 2006 issue.
In 2007, Randall was named one of
Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People (
Time 100) under the section for "Scientists & Thinkers." Randall was given this honor for her work regarding the evidence of a high dimension.
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