Anamaría Font Explained

Anamaria Font Villarroel
Birth Date:29 September 1959
Birth Place:Anaco, Venezuela
Fields:Theoretical physics
String theory
Workplaces:Universidad Central de Venezuela
Alma Mater:Simon Bolivar University
University of Texas at Austin
Thesis Title:Four-Dimensional Supergravity Theories Arising from Superstrings
Thesis Year:1987
Doctoral Advisor:Austin Gleeson
Known For:S-duality
Awards:Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury Science Prize (1991)
ICTP Prize (1998)
L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards (2023)

Anamaría Font Villarroel is a Venezuelan theoretical physicist and professor of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). Her research has been focused on models about the primordial components of matter in the context of string theory.

Font has contributed to development of Calabi–Yau dimensional compactification and she introduced the concept of S-duality to superstring theory, contributing to the second superstring revolution.

Early life and education

Anamaría Font Villarroel was born in Anaco, Venezuela. She obtained her bachelor's degree in physics, Cum Laude in 1980 from Simon Bolivar University, in Caracas, Venezuela.[1]

Academic career

Font received a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987, under the supervision of Austin Gleeson. Her PhD thesis was titled Four-Dimensional Supergravity Theories Arising from Superstrings.[2] While pursuing her PhD, she received classes from Nobel Prize physicist Steven Weinberg. After completing her PhD she moved to France to work as a postdoctoral fellow in the Annecy-le-Vieux Particle Physics Laboratory (LAPP). Since 1989, she has been a physics professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela.[3] She was also a visiting professor at the Arnold Sommerfeld Center[4] for theoretical physics in Munich, Germany.[5]

Her article titled "Strong-weak coupling duality and non-perturbative effects in string theory"[6] had a big influence in the second superstring revolution in 1995. It was in this article where the term S-duality was first used in this context.[7]

In 2013, Font was elected a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries.[8]

Font has been actively involved in projects related to education in physics and mathematics in Venezuela and other countries.[9] [10] [11] [12] In July 2018, Physics Today magazine published an interview with Font about the status of science in Venezuela.[13] The publication data base INSPIRE-HEP included three of her notorious publications into their data base.[14]

She is a member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).[15]

Font is also a Severo Ochoa IFT (Instituto de Física Teórica) research associate.[16]

Honors and awards

In 1991, Font was awarded the Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury Science Prize. Given by the country's national private industry, the prize recognizes the work of Venezuelan scientists, and is the most important scientific prize in Venezuela.[17] [18]

In 1998, she was awarded, jointly with Fernando Quevedo, the ICTP Prize in the field of High Energy Physics (in honour of Chen Ning Yang),[19]

In 2023, Font was awarded the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards, representing Latin America,[20]

In November 2023, Font was named to the BBC's 100 Women list as one of the world's inspiring and influential women.[21]

Selected publications

Font has more than 50 publications with over 6000 citations. Below is a list of some of her publications.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: López, L., & Ranaudo, M. A. (2016). Mujeres en Ciencia: Venezuela.
  2. Font Villarroel . A . Four-dimensional supergravity theories arising from superstrings . 1987 . 4434458540 . 5741159 . 1987PhDT........43F .
  3. Web site: Anamaria Font. fisica.ciens.ucv.ve.
  4. Web site: Arnold Sommerfeld Center - LMU Munich. www.theorie.physik.uni-muenchen.de.
  5. Web site: Faculty of Physics LMU ASC. 14 March 2021.
  6. Font . A. . Ibáñez . L.E. . Lüst . D. . Quevedo . F. . Strong-weak coupling duality and non-perturbative effects in string theory . Physics Letters B . October 1990 . 249 . 1 . 35–43 . 10.1016/0370-2693(90)90523-9 . 1990PhLB..249...35F .
  7. Book: 10.1142/9781848162150_0001 . A Brief History of String Theory . An Introduction to String Theory and D-Brane Dynamics . 2004 . 1–8 . 978-1-86094-427-7 .
  8. Web site: Font, Anamaría . TWAS.
  9. Web site: Organizing committee . fisica.cab.cnea.gov.ar.
  10. Web site: 6th ICTP Latin-American String School (Mexico City) . www.ictp-saifr.org.
  11. Web site: 4th Joint Dutch-Brazil School on Theoretical Physics . www.ictp-saifr.org.
  12. Web site: 2003 Colombia . archive.schools.cimpa.info.
  13. Aut . Feder Toni author . July 10, 2018 . Q&A: Anamaría Font on the deterioration of science in Venezuela . Physics Today . 10.1063/PT.6.4.20180710a . 240367242.
  14. Web site: INSPIRE HEP . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210419043523/https://inspirehep.net/authors/1009735 . 19 April 2021.
  15. Web site: 15 June 2015 . Font, Anamaria . owsd.net.
  16. Web site: Anamaría Font, SO(IFT) Research Associate, has beeen [sic] awarded in the 25th annual L'Oréal-UNESCO International Prize 'Women and Science' Instituto de Física Teórica ]. 2023-06-20 . www.ift.uam-csic.es.
  17. Web site: Fundación Empresas Polar. www.fundacionempresaspolar.org.
  18. Web site: 2021-03-14. Premio Fundacion Empresas Polar "Lorenzo Mendoza Feury". live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190201133728/http://bibliofep.fundacionempresaspolar.org:80/publicaciones/periodicas/ediciones-del-premio-lorenzo-mendoza-fleury . 1 February 2019 .
  19. Web site: International Center for Theoretical Physics . ICTP Prize winners 1998 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180704091619/https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/prizes-awards/the-ictp-prize/the-prize-winners/ictp-prize-winners-1998.aspx . 4 July 2018 . 14 March 2021 . ICTP.
  20. Web site: Discover the laureates of the 25th L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards UNESCO . 2023-06-14 . www.unesco.org . en.
  21. Web site: November 23, 2023 . BBC 100 Women 2023: Who is on the list this year? . 2023-11-24 . BBC News . en-GB.