Fireside Chat with Prof. Rajesh Gopakumar | Director, ICTS-TIFR | at SPC India
South Park Commons India is delighted to host Prof. Rajesh Gopakumar, Director of ICTS-TIFR, for a fireside chat.
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Prof. Rajesh Gopakumar is a theoretical physicist who is Distinguished Professor and Director (since 2015) of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bengaluru. His research interests are in string theory and quantum field theory aiming to understand the nature of fundamental interactions in nature.
He completed his MSc in physics from IIT Kanpur in 1992 and received his PhD from Princeton University in 1997 under the supervision of Prof. David Gross (Nobel Laureate, Physics 2004).After a few years as a Research Associate at Harvard University, he joined the Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad in 2001 where he was until 2015. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey from 2001 to 2004.
Prof. Gopakumar’s work has been at the interface of Quantum Field Theory and String theory. His work with Cumrun Vafa of Harvard led to the formulation of what are now called Gopakumar-Vafa invariants in mathematics as well as the discovery of what is now known as the Gopakumar-Vafa duality. His recent work has pioneered a novel approach to decipher the so-called gauge-string duality.
He is the recipient of the B.M. Birla Science Prize in Physics in 2004, the ICTP Prize in 2006, the Swarnajayanti Fellowship in 2006, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 2009, the GD Birla Prize in 2013, The TWAS Prize for Physics in 2015, JC Bose National Fellowship in 2015. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the Frontier of Science Awards at the International Congress for Basic Sciences in 2023. He is a founding member of the Global Young Academy and was elected the Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in 2015. He is also a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and the National Academy of Sciences,India (NASI). In 2019, he received IIT Kanpur's Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2024, he received the INSA Distinguished Lecture Award (physical sciences).
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Expect a candid conversation on doing frontier science in India, how ICTS has built a home for the country's most ambitious theorists, and what founders and builders can learn from a long-horizon, curiosity-driven research culture.
Event Details:
5:00 PM: Doors Open
5:30–6:30 PM: Fireside Chat, moderated by SPC India
6:30–7:00 PM: Networking
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About South Park Commons (SPC):
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A quick note on logistics:
Registration is by approval and space is limited. RSVP early to secure a spot.
Doors close at 5:30 PM sharp, when the fireside begins. We're unable to accommodate late arrivals or unapproved guests on the day.
If you're on the waitlist, we'll be in touch if a spot opens up.