Prof. Ronen Plesser
Department of Physics
Duke University

Abstract

Abstract:  String theorists recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1984 paper by Green and Schwarz suggesting that string theory might be a consistent quantum theory of gravity. I will try to explain why this is important and why it is an open problem. I will then review some parts of a formulation of the theory, and show why we think it may solve the problem. As time permits, I will list some of what we have learned about and from string theory in the last few decades, present some topics under current investigation, and outline some possible future directions.
 
Brief bio: Ronen Plesser graduated from Tel Aviv University in 1981 with B.Sc in physics and mathematics. He did his graduate training at Harvard University, where he worked under the supervision of Paul Ginsparg and of Cumrun Vafa, receiving his PhD in physics in 1991. After postdoctoral positions at Yale and IAS, he accepted a faculty position at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1995. He left Weizmann for Duke University in 1997 and has been a member of the physics department at Duke since.