Brian Greene

Infobox_Scientist
name = Brian Greene


image_width = 170px
caption = At the launch of the World Science Festival, April 2008
birth_date = Birth date and age|mf=yes|1963|2|9
birth_place = New York City, U.S.
residence = United States
nationality = USA
field = Physics
alma_mater = Harvard University
Oxford University
work_institution = Cornell University
Columbia University
doctoral_advisor = Graham G. Ross(Oxford University)
doctoral_students =
known_for = String theory
"The Elegant Universe"
"The Fabric of the Cosmos"
prizes =
footnotes =

Brian Greene (born February 9, 1963) is a theoretical physicist and one of the best-known string theorists. Since 1996 he has been a professor at Columbia University. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi-Yau manifolds (concretely, relating the conifold to one of its orbifolds). He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, showing that topology in string theory can change at the conifold point. He has become known to a wider audience through his books for the general public, "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos," and a related PBS television special.

Biography

Greene was born in New York City. His father, Alan Greene, was a one-time vaudeville performer and high school dropout who later worked as a voice coach and composer. [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0338694/bio |title=Biography for Brian Greene |publisher=Internet Movie Database |accessdate=2007-10-31] After attending Stuyvesant High School, [cite magazine |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Spring2006/green.html |title=The String is The Thing - Brian Greene Unravels the Fabric of the Universe |journal=Columbia Magazine |publisher=Columbia University |author=JR Minkel |date=Spring 2006 |accessdate=2007-10-31] Greene entered Harvard in 1980 to major in physics and, having completed his bachelor's degree, went on to earn his doctorate from Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar, graduating in 1986.

Greene joined the physics faculty of Cornell University in 1990, and was appointed to a full professorship in 1995. The following year, he joined the staff of Columbia University as a full professor; this remains his current position. At Columbia, Greene is co-director of the University's Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics (ISCAP), and is leading a research program applying superstring theory to cosmological questions. He is also one of the FQXi large grant awardees, his project title being "Arrow of Time in the Quantum Universe". His co-investigators are David Albert and Maulik Parikh.

Greene is married to former ABC producer Tracy Day. [Citation
last=Overbye
first=Dennis
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/science/03fest.html
newspaper=New York Times
date=June 3, 2008
year=2008b
title=An Overflowing Five-Day Banquet of Science and Its Meanings
pages= ]

Work

Research

Greene's area of research is string theory, a candidate for a theory of quantum gravity, which attempts to explain the different particle species of the standard model of particle physics as different aspects of a single type of one-dimensional, vibrating string. One peculiarity of string theory is that it postulates the existence of extra dimensions of space – instead of the usual three dimensions of space, there must be nine or even ten spatial dimensions to allow for a consistently defined string theory. The theory has several explanations to offer for why we do not perceive these extra dimensions, one being that they are "curled up" (compactified, to use the technical term) and are hence too small to be readily noticeable.

In the field, Greene is best known for his contribution to the understanding of the different shapes the curled-up dimensions of string theory take on. The most important of these shapes are so-called Calabi-Yau manifolds; when the extra dimensions take on those particular form, physics in three dimensions exhibits an abstract symmetry known as supersymmetry.

Greene has worked on a particular class of symmetry relating two different Calabi-Yau manifolds, known as mirror symmetry (concretely, relating the conifold to one of its orbifolds). He is also known for his research on the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, showing that topology in string theory can change at the conifold point.

Currently, Greene studies string cosmology, especially the imprints of trans Planckian physics on the cosmic microwave background, and brane-gas cosmologies that could explain why the space around us has three large dimensions, expanding on the suggestion of a black hole electron, namely that the electron may be a black hole.

Communicating science

Greene is well known to a wider audience for his work on popularizing theoretical physics, in particular string theory and the search for a unified theory of physics. His first book, "", published in 1999, is a popularization of superstring theory and M-theory. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, and winner of "The Aventis Prizes for Science Books" in 2000. [cite web|url=http://www.roycecarlton.com/speakers/greene.html |title= Profile of Brian Greene |publisher=Royce Carlton Incorporated|accessdate=2008-02-17] "The Elegant Universe" was later made into a PBS television special of the same name, hosted and narrated by Greene, which won a 2003 Peabody Award.

Greene's second book, "" (2004), is about space, time, and the nature of the universe. Aspects covered in this book include non-local particle entanglement as it relates to special relativity and basic explanations of string theory. It is an examination of the very nature of matter and reality, covering such topics as spacetime and cosmology, origins and unification, and including an exploration into reality and the imagination.

A book for a younger audience, "Icarus at the Edge of Time", which is a futuristic re-telling of the Icarus myth, is scheduled for publication in September 2008. [ [http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307268884 A. A. Knopf Online catalogue] ] In addition to authoring popular-science books, Greene is an occasional Op-Ed Contributor for the New York Times, writing on his work and other scientific topics.

The popularity of his books and his natural on-camera demeanor has resulted in many media appearances, including "Charlie Rose", "The Colbert Report", "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", "The Century with Peter Jennings", CNN, "TIME", "Nightline in Primetime", "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", and "The Late Show with David Letterman". It has also led to Greene helping John Lithgow with scientific dialogue for the television series "3rd Rock from the Sun", and becoming a technical consultant for the film "Frequency", in which he also had a cameo role. Recently, he was a consultant in the time-travel movie "Déjà Vu." He also had a cameo appearance as an Intel scientist in 2007's "The Last Mimzy". Greene was also mentioned in the 2002 "Angel" episode "Supersymmetry" and in the 2008 Stargate Atlantis episode "Trio". Through his film credits, combined with his research publications in mathematical physics, Greene is one of the few people to have a finite Erdős–Bacon number.

Greene often lectures outside of the collegiate setting, at both a general and a technical level, in more than twenty-five countries. One of his latest projects is to organize an annual science festival to be held in New York City, called the World Science Festival. The first such festival took place in May/June 2008. [cite news | last=Shapiro | first=Gary | title=New York, Cambridge To Host Citywide Science Festivals | work=New York Sun | url=http://www.nysun.com/article/40004 | accessdate=2007-02-25] [Citation
last=Overbye
first=Dennis
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/science/03fest.html
newspaper=New York Times
date=June 3, 2008
year=2008b
title=An Overflowing Five-Day Banquet of Science and Its Meanings
pages= ]

Bibliography

Technical articles

For a full list of technical articles, consult the [http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=A+BRIAN+R.+GREENE&FORMAT=WWW&SEQUENCE= publication list] in the SPIRES database

* R. Easther, B. R. Greene, M. G. Jackson and D. Kabat, " [http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0409121 String windings in the early universe] ". JCAP {0502}, 009 (2005).
* R. Easther, B. Greene, W. Kinney, G. Shiu, " [http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0204129 A Generic Estimate of Trans-Planckian Modifications to the Primordial Power Spectrum in Inflation] ". Phys. Rev. D66 (2002). 023518.
* R. Easther, B. Greene, W. Kinney, G. Shiu, " [http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0104102 Inflation as a Probe of Short Distance Physics] ". Phys. Rev. D64 (2001) 103502.
* Brian R. Greene, " [http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9711124 D-Brane Topology Changing Transitions] ". Nucl. Phys. B525 (1998) 284-296.
* Michael R. Douglas, Brian R. Greene, David R. Morrison, " [http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9704151 Orbifold Resolution by D-Branes] ". Nucl.Phys. B506 (1997) 84-106.
* Brian R. Greene, David R. Morrison, Andrew Strominger, " [http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9504145 Black Hole Condensation and the Unification of String Vacua] ". Nucl.Phys. B451 (1995) 109-120.
* P.S. Aspinwall, B.R. Greene, D.R. Morrison, " [http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9309097 Calabi-Yau Moduli Space, Mirror Manifolds and Spacetime Topology Change in String Theory] ". Nucl.Phys. B416 (1994) 414-480.
* B.R.Greene and M.R.Plesser, "Duality in Calabi-Yau Moduli Space". Nucl. Phys. B338 (1990) 15.

Writings for a general audience

* Brian R. Greene, , 2005.
* Brian R. Greene, , 1999
* Brian R. Greene, Icarus at the Edge of Time.

See also

* List of physicists
* List of theoretical physicists
* String Theory
* Theory of everything
* Unified Field Theory

References

External links

* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/physics/fac-bios/Greene/faculty.html Brian Greene faculty homepage]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html "The Elegant Universe"] at Public Broadcasting System
*
* [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=000073A5-C100-1F80-B57583414B7F0103 The Future of String Theory] - A conversation with Brian Greene from Scientific American
* [http://www.edge.org/documents/day/day_greene.html Edge.org] – A talk with Brian Greene (requires Real Player).
* [http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hep/www?rawcmd=ea+Greene,+Brian+R Find author Brian R. Greene] in Stanford SPIRES HEP database.
* [http://www.twis.org/audio/2005/08/10/ Radio Interview] from This Week in Science August 10, 2005 Broadcast
* [http://www.charlierose.com/guests/brian-greene Brian Greene] "Charlie Rose" interviews. [http://www.charlierose.com/guests/brian-green 16 Feb. 1999 interview]
* [http://www.drury.edu/multinl/story.cfm?ID=1114&NLID=135 Audio of a 2002 talk at Drury University]

* [http://www.worldsciencefestival.com World Science Festival]
* [http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/251 TED talk on String theory]
* [http://xkcd.com/485/ XKCD comic reference]

Persondata
NAME= Greene, Brian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= [American physicist
DATE OF BIRTH= February 9, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH= New York City, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=