Alexander Zamolodchikov

He is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished theoretical physicists for his profound contributions to fundamental physics and especially to Quantum Field Theories, for which he was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2024. He is currently the C.N. Yang – Wei Deng Endowed Chair of Physics at Stony Brook University.

Biography

Born in Novo-Ivankovo, now part of Dubna, Zamolodchikov earned a M.Sc. in nuclear engineering (1975) from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, a Ph.D. in physics from the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (1978). He joined the research staff of Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics (1978) where he got a Doctor of Sciences degree (1983).

He co-authored the famous BPZ paper "Infinite Conformal Symmetry in Two-Dimensional Quantum Field Theory", with Alexander Polyakov and Alexander Belavin.

He joined Rutgers University (1990) where he co-founded Rutgers New High Energy Theory Center, and was named Board of Governors Professor (2005).

In 2016, he became the inaugural holder of the C. N. Yang/Wei Deng Chair in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stony Brook University.

He is the twin brother of the late Alexei Zamolodchikov (1952–2007), also a noted physicist.