Laureates

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

2014 New Horizons in Physics Prize

For his pioneering contributions to the study of string theory and quantum field theory; and in particular his work on the connection between the equations of fluid dynamics and Albert Einstein’s equations of general relativity.

Comments

I am grateful to all my teachers in India, especially my professors at IIT Kanpur for the confidence they have always had in me. At Princeton I learned a way of doing — and living — physics from my PhD advisor Nathan Seiberg. To him I owe a special debt. I have learned a great deal from Andy Strominger who mentored me at Harvard with tremendous affection and friendship. At the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research I have been mentored with immense affection by Spenta Wadia. I have constantly been inspired and guided by Ashoke Sen, perhaps the greatest living Indian theorist. I am grateful to my colleagues Ofer Aharony, Mustansir Barma, Sumit Das, Atish Dabholkar, Justin David, Avinash Dhar, Rajesh Gopakumar, Veronika Hubeny, Gautamt Mandal, Sunil Mukhi, Mukund Rangamani, Sandip Trivedi, Mark van Raamsdonk, Toby Wiseman and Xi Yin for many years of inspiration, education and affection. I have benefited tremendously from working with my Phd students, Matthew Headrick, Kyriakos Papadodimas, Joe Marsano, Suvrat Raju, Lars Grant, Subhaniel Lahiri, Sayantani Bhattacharyya, R. Loganayagam, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, Tarun Sharma, V. Umesh and Mangesh Mandlik. I cannot begin to acknowledge the strength and support I have received from my wife Ananya, my children Spandan and Chinar, my parents Naval and Khadija, my in-laws Achintya and Anindita, my sister Shabnam and family, and my special friends — Arun, Bagri, Chanda, Dalal and Pal. Finally, I acknowledge my debt to the people of India for their steady support to research in the basic sciences.