Cumrun Vafa
Cumrun Vafa | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 August 1960 Tehran, Iran |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS) Princeton University (PhD) |
| Known for | F-theory Vafa–Witten theorem Gopakumar–Vafa duality Gopakumar–Vafa invariant Brandenberger–Vafa mechanism Ooguri–Vafa metric Mirror symmetry Swampland Weak gravity conjecture |
| Awards | Dirac Medal (2008) Eisenbud Prize (2008) Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (2016) Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2017) Mustafa Prize (2021) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical Physics |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
Doctoral advisor | Edward Witten |
Doctoral students | Freddy Cachazo Daniel L. Jafferis Andrew Neitzke Eric Zaslow |
Cumrun or Kamran Vafa (Persian: کامران وفا, Persian pronunciation: [kɒːmˈrɒːn væˈfɒː]; born 1 August 1960) is an Iranian-American theoretical physicist and the Hollis Professor of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University. In October 2025, Vafa was appointed the Timken University Professor at Harvard, the highest distinction a faculty member can receive at the university.