Claudia de Rham explained

Claudia de Rham
Birth Date:29 March 1978
Alma Mater:École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
University of Cambridge
Doctoral Advisor:Anne-Christine Davis
Known For:de Rham–Gabadadze–Tolley massive gravity
Awards:Blavatnik Award (2020)
Adams Prize (2018)

Claudia de Rham (born 29 March 1978) is a British theoretical physicist of Swiss origin working at the interface of gravity, cosmology, and particle physics. She is based at Imperial College London. She was one of the UK finalists in the Physical Sciences and Engineering category of the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in 2018 for revitalizing the theory of massive gravity and won the award in 2020.

Early life and education

De Rham was born in Lausanne.[1] She completed her undergraduate studies in France, receiving a Diplôme d'Ingénieur in physics at the École Polytechnique in Paris in 2000.[2] She received a master's degree in physics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 2001. In 2002, de Rham moved to the UK, achieving a PhD in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge on "braneworld cosmology beyond the low-energy limit".[3] She has trained as a pilot and made it through several stages of the European Space Agency's astronaut selection process.

Research

After earning her PhD, de Rham went to Montreal to join the physics department at McGill University.[4] [5] She moved to McMaster University in Hamilton and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, in 2006, where she worked in a joint postdoctoral position in cosmology.[6] In 2010, she joined the University of Geneva as an assistant professor.[7] [8] She moved to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2011 and became an associate professor there in 2016.[9] [10] She joined Imperial College London in 2016. That year, she was awarded a £100,000 Wolfson Merit Award from the Royal Society.[11] [12]

Her research is in the area of theoretical cosmology, and she explores gravitational models that could explain the accelerated expansion of the universe. De Rham is recognised as a researcher at the forefront of the development of theories of massive gravity, where the particle carrier of the gravitational force, the graviton, may be massive.[13] In 2010, she constructed a nonlinear theory of a massive graviton, which is theoretically consistent and ghost-free.[14] [15] That formulation of massive gravity is now known as "de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) theory", owing to its discovery by de Rham, Gregory Gabadadze, and Andrew J. Tolley. Her research helps tackle the problem of the cosmological constant and could describe the accelerated expansion of the universe as a purely gravitational effect, where massive gravitons are responsible for dark energy.

In 2015, she gave a TEDx talk titled "Nature of the Graviton". She gives regular public lectures about theoretical cosmology.[16] [17] [18] [19]

De Rham was interviewed by Morgan Freeman in season 8 of Through the Wormhole.[20]

Publications

In November 2023, de Rham co-authored The Encyclopedia of Cosmology, Set 2: Frontiers in Cosmology, Volume 1: Modified Gravity, with Andrew J Tolley, also of Imperial College London.[21]

Awards and leadership roles

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alumni Award Recipients. www.epflalumni.ch. 17 January 2018.
  2. Web site: Claudia de Rham Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. blavatnikawards.org. 17 January 2018.
  3. Book: Claudia, De Rham. 2005. Braneworld cosmology beyond the low-energy limit.
  4. Web site: McGill Physics: CHEP seminars. www.physics.mcgill.ca. 17 January 2018.
  5. Web site: CHEP Seminars 2007–2008. www.physics.mcgill.ca. 17 January 2018.
  6. Web site: Claudia de Rham Perimeter Institute. www.perimeterinstitute.ca. 17 January 2018.
  7. Web site: Claudia de Rham. www.perimeterinstitute.ca. 17 January 2018.
  8. Web site: Claudia de Rham Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics – University of Geneva. cosmology.unige.ch. 17 January 2018.
  9. Web site: Claudia de Rham. www.phys.cwru.edu. 17 January 2018. 16 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170416044839/http://www.phys.cwru.edu/~claudia/. dead.
  10. Web site: TED Institute for the Science of Origins. origins.case.edu. 17 January 2018.
  11. Web site: Expanding horizons: throwing new light on dark energy. Imperial College London. https://web.archive.org/web/20170402220850/http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/naturalsciences/physics/newssummary/news_24-3-2017-15-10-7. 2 April 2017. dead. 17 January 2018.
  12. Web site: Claudia de Rham. royalsociety.org. 17 January 2018.
  13. Web site: Claudia de Rham TEDxCLE. www.tedxcle.com. 17 January 2018.
  14. de Rham. Claudia. Gabadadze. Gregory. Tolley. Andrew J.. 2011. Resummation of Massive Gravity. Physical Review Letters. 106. 23. 231101. 10.1103/physrevlett.106.231101. 21770493. 1011.1232. 2011PhRvL.106w1101D. 3564069.
  15. Rham. Claudia de. 1 December 2014. Massive Gravity. Living Reviews in Relativity. en. 17. 1. 7. 10.12942/lrr-2014-7. free . 28179850. 5256007. 2367-3613. 1401.4173. 2014LRR....17....7D.
  16. News: Claudia De Rham – Festival Histoire et Cité – archive 2017. Festival Histoire et Cité – archive 2017. 17 January 2018. fr-FR. https://web.archive.org/web/20180118181001/https://histoire-cite.ch/archives/2017/invites/claudia-de-rham/. 18 January 2018. dead.
  17. Web site: UK Cosmo at Portsmouth – April 5th 2017. www.icg.port.ac.uk. 17 January 2018.
  18. News: Tube: "Graviton Mass Bounds" by Claudia de Rham (Imperial College London) « CP³-Origins. CP³-Origins. 17 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180913223453/http://cp3-origins.dk/video/173840003. 13 September 2018. dead.
  19. Web site: IFT Christmas Workshop – csic.es. www.csic.es. es. 17 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180118181039/http://www.csic.es/ciencia-y-tecnologias-fisicas?p_p_id=contentviewerservice_WAR_alfresco_packportlet&p_p_lifecycle=1&p_p_state=maximized&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-3&p_p_col_pos=1&p_p_col_count=3&_contentviewerservice_WAR_alfresco_packportlet_struts_action=%2Fcontentviewer%2Fview&_contentviewerservice_WAR_alfresco_packportlet_nodeRef=workspace%3A%2F%2FSpacesStore%2Ff278aef5-15f9-478f-85e3-686e9caebce0&_contentviewerservice_WAR_alfresco_packportlet_gsa_index=false&_contentviewerservice_WAR_alfresco_packportlet_title=Agenda&contentType=event. 18 January 2018. dead.
  20. Web site: Professor Claudia de Rham . Imperial College London . 1 April 2024 . 8 October 2024.
  21. Book: Rham, Claudia de . Tolley . Andrew J. . Encyclopedia of Cosmology, the – Set 2: Frontiers in Cosmology (in 3 Volumes) . World Scientific Publishing Company . Hackensack . 22 November 2023 . 978-981-12-8969-9 .
  22. Web site: Home – Claudia de Rham. www.imperial.ac.uk. 17 January 2018.
  23. Web site: New Initiative Ponders Origins of the Universe Simons Foundation. Simons Foundation. 17 January 2018. 21 July 2017.
  24. Web site: Multi-million EU funding boost for Imperial researchers. Scheuber. Andrew. Imperial College London. https://web.archive.org/web/20170425010101/http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_25%2D4%2D2017%2D17%2D26%2D52. 25 April 2017. dead. 17 January 2018.
  25. Web site: Awards, etc. – Cambridge University Reporter 6505. www.admin.cam.ac.uk. 25 May 2018.
  26. News: Theoretical physicist gets awarded in the 2018 Blavatnik Awards. 16 January 2018. Science Examiner. 17 January 2018.
  27. Web site: Imperial physicist wins first-of-its-kind science prize. Dunning. Hayley. https://web.archive.org/web/20180116010101/http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_12%2D1%2D2018%2D15%2D23%2D33. 16 January 2018. dead. 17 January 2018.
  28. Web site: Three innovative scientists receive US$100,000 (£75,000) each from prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. Blavatnik Awards Young Scientists . New York Academy of Sciences . 18 January 2020.
  29. News: Has physicist's gravity theory solved 'impossible' dark energy riddle? . . Devlin . Hannah . Hannah Devlin . 25 January 2020 . 25 January 2020.
  30. Web site: New members. 2023. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 21 April 2023.

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