Michael Duff (physicist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michael Duff
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| Born |
Michael James Duff
January 28, 1949 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Queen Mary College, London (BSc) Imperial College London (PhD) |
| Known for | Coining the term "p-brane" |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics, supergravity, string theory, M-theory |
| Institutions | Imperial College London European Organization for Nuclear Research International Centre for Theoretical Physics Queen Mary College, London Texas A&M University University of Michigan |
| Doctoral advisor | Abdus Salam |
Michael James Duff is a British theoretical physicist. He studies the basic rules of the universe. He is a leading expert in supergravity, which is a theory about how gravity works with other forces.
Currently, he is a top professor at Imperial College London. He holds the special title of Abdus Salam Chair of Theoretical Physics.
Becoming a Scientist: Michael Duff's Education
Michael Duff started his journey in science at Queen Mary College, London. He earned his first degree in Physics there in 1969.
He then went on to get his PhD in theoretical physics in 1972. He studied at Imperial College London. His teacher was Abdus Salam, a scientist who won a Nobel Prize.
After his PhD, Michael Duff worked at several famous places. These included the University of Oxford and King's College London. He gained more experience in his field.
Michael Duff's Amazing Career Journey
After his studies, Michael Duff returned to Imperial College London in 1979. He became a professor there in 1980. He also worked at CERN, a big science lab in Europe.
He visited many universities around the world. These included the University of Texas, Austin and the University of Kyoto. In 1988, he became a professor at Texas A&M University.
Later, in 1999, he moved to the University of Michigan. He was a special professor there. He also led the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics.
In 2005, he came back to Imperial College London. He became a main leader of the Physical Sciences faculty. In 2006, he was named the Abdus Salam Professor of Theoretical Physics. He won the Dirac Medal of the IOP in 2017 for his important work.
What Michael Duff Studies
Michael Duff is very interested in how the universe works. He studies theories that try to combine all the forces of nature. These are called unified theories.
He also explores quantum gravity, which looks at gravity on a tiny scale. His work includes supergravity, Kaluza–Klein theory, and string theory. He also studies M-theory, which is a bigger idea that connects different string theories.
He is a member of many important science groups. These include the Royal Society and the American Physical Society. He also edited a book called The World in Eleven Dimensions. This book is about string theory and related ideas.
