Brian Greene

Brian Greene

Photo by Lois Greenfield

Brian Greene is a theoretical physicist at Columbia University who has made major contributions to string theory, an aspiring theory of everything. He has also played a large role in popularizing string theory (M-theory) through his writings, lectures and PBS specials. He is the author of the bestselling books The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos. He is co-director of Columbia's Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics (ISCAP), which examines how superstring theory can explain cosmological observations. He is also co-founder of the 2008 World Science Festival in New York City and plans to make it an annual event. One of his goals is to inspire kids to study science.

Superstring theory is an area of theoretical physics that attempts to reconcile Einstein's theory of gravity with quantum mechanics. It describes the universe in terms of multi-dimensional filaments, or strings, that vibrate much as the strings of a cello do. The patterns of the vibrations determine the properties of subatomic particles. The theory works only under the assumption that there are 11 dimensions: 10 spatial dimensions plus the dimension of time. The theory is still young and unproven, but the hope of string theorists is that it will become the single fundamental theory of the universe.

Greene's particular area of expertise is in quantum geometry, which attempts to define the mathematical properties of these extra dimensions. He helped construct a model of string theory showing how the extra dimensions could be curled up and too tiny for us to see. He and his colleagues discovered the possibility that space can tear and reform, something Einstein considered impossible.

He is currently investigating the possibility that as strings formed just after the Big Bang, they left impressions on the microwave radiation in the universe, which would be detectable in very small temperature variations throughout the cosmos.

Brian Greene has been an ethical vegan since childhood. He stopped eating meat at the age of nine when he first made the connection between meat and animals, and became vegan shortly after.