World Science U for a Day: The Continuing Quest for the Deep Laws of the Universe

Gabriela González is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana State University (LSU), where there is a large group of people working on the detection of gravitational waves, both in theory and experiment.

Samir Mathur is a physicist who has spent over two decades working on the black hole information paradox. He has proposed that this paradox is resolved because the structure of black holes is radically altered in string theory: Instead of having all their mass at their center, black holes are “fuzzballs” with no regular horizon or singularity.

Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist and co-founder of the loop approach to quantum gravity. His main interest is the physics of space and time. Rovelli has also worked on the history and philosophy of science. His technical books include Quantum Gravity and Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity.

Andrew Strominger is the Gwill E. York Professor of Physics at Harvard University and a founding member of the Black Hole Initiative. He is a renowned theoretical physicist who has made pathbreaking contributions to classical and quantum gravity quantum field theory and string theory.

Cumrun Vafa is a Donner Professor of Science in the Department of Physics at Harvard University. He received his BS in Math and Physics from MIT and his PhD in Physics from Princeton University under the direction of Edward Witten. Vafa’s primary area of research is string theory.