vailsymposium

Professor Lisa Randall studies theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University. Her research connects theoretical insights to puzzles in our current understanding of the properties and interactions of matter. She has developed and studied a wide variety of models to address these questions, the most prominent involving extra dimensions of space.

Randall has also had a public presence through her writing, lectures, and radio and TV appearances. Randall’s books, “Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions” and “Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World” were both on the New York Times’ list of 100 Notable Books of the Year.

Randall is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was a fellow of the American Physical Society and the rccipient of several honorary degrees. She is the recipient of the Klopsteg Award from the AAPT, the Gemant Award from the AIP, and the Lilienfeld and Sakurai Prizes from the APS.

Randall was on the list of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2007 and was one of 40 people featured in The Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary issue that year. She was featured in Newsweek’s “Who’s Next in 2006” as “one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation” and in Seed Magazine’s “2005 Year in Science Icons.” In 2008, Randall was among Esquire Magazine’s “75 Most Influential People.”

Randall earned her PhD from Harvard University and held professorships at MIT and Princeton University before returning to Harvard in 2001. She is also the recipient of honorary degrees from Brown University, Duke University, Bard College and the University of Antwerp.