Catherine Meusburger facts for kids

Catherine Meusburger was born on January 7, 1978. She is a talented scientist from Austria. She is both a mathematician and a physicist.

Catherine Meusburger studies how math and physics work together. She looks at areas like algebra and geometry. Since 2011, she has been a professor of mathematics. She teaches at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.

Her Amazing Research

Catherine Meusburger explores many interesting topics. She studies 3D geometry, which is about shapes in three dimensions. She also works on something called "quantization of moduli spaces of flat connections." This is a complex area that helps us understand different shapes and spaces.

Her work also includes higher categories. These are advanced ways to group mathematical ideas. She researches topological quantum field theories. These theories help explain how things behave in the quantum world. They also look at how shapes can change without tearing.

She also studies the mapping class group. This group helps understand how surfaces can be twisted or stretched. Catherine Meusburger also uses her knowledge to study materials. She looks at how topological models can explain properties in condensed matter physics.

Earlier in her career, she worked on Chern-Simons theory. This theory is important in understanding quantum fields. She also studied 3D gravity, which looks at gravity in a three-dimensional space.

Her Early Life and Studies

Catherine Meusburger grew up in Heidelberg, Germany. She finished high school at Kurfürst-Friedrich-Gymnasium. After that, she went to the University of Freiburg. She studied physics there from 1996 to 2001.

She wrote a special paper for her degree. It was called The Quantisation of the algebra of invariants of the closed bosonic Nambu–Goto String using a concrete realization. This paper was so good that she won the Gustav-Mies Prize in 2002. She graduated with honors.

Just two months later, she moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. She started her PhD at Heriot-Watt University. She worked in the math department. Her main teacher was Bernd Schroers. Her PhD paper was about "Phase space and quantisation of (2+1)-dimensional gravity in the Chern–Simons formulation."

Her Career Journey

From 2004 to 2008, Catherine Meusburger worked in Canada. She was a postdoc at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. A postdoc is a researcher who has finished their PhD.

After her time in Canada, she spent six months in England. She was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham. This is a special award for researchers.

Then, she led a research group in Germany. She worked at the University of Hamburg. She stayed there until 2011. Since 2011, she has been a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.