Edward Witten

Edward Witten (born 1951) is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Edward Witten is a mathematical physicist who does research in M-theory, which is a unification of 5 superstring theories. Superstring/M-theory is a promising candidate to be the unifying theory for the four fundamental physical interactions (gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear) and provides a fundamental link between quantum mechanics and general relativity, previously thought to be incompatible.

Edward Witten is heralded as the foremost mathematical theoretical physicist in his time and for his contributions to physics and mathematics; he has obtained many awards, with the Fields Medal in 1990 (mathematics equivalent to Nobel Prize) being one of them. He has inspired his colleagues and has sparked the second revolution in superstring theory.