Leonard Susskind

American physicist · United States · On the map · Scientists · Born 1940 · age 86

Leonard Susskind is an American theoretical physicist, professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. His research interests are string theory, quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics and quantum cosmology.

Leonard Susskind is read about 348 times a day, in 37 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2023ICTP Dirac MedalAward2018“My physics has been extremely mainstream, ... It's not true that I'm some sort of a [radical thinker], not at all.”In their words6 December 2018During an interview with Y Combinator - Published on 6 December 2018.Read the whole statement

2012“The problem with general relativity is that the principles are pretty simple and the computations are always ugly.”In their words30 October 2012General Relativity Lecture 5, YouTube, published 30 October 2012 (quote at 1:21:46 of 1:39:06)Read the whole statement

2009“A straight line is a special case of a curve. It's a curve which is uncurved.”In their words12 March 2009Einstein's General Theory of Relativity Lecture 7, YouTube, published 12 March 2009 (quote at 1:27 of 1:56:43)Read the whole statement

2008Pomeranchuk PrizeAward2006“(Jokingly) Sex in ten dimensions is impossible... topologically.”In their words28 September 2006Lecture "Cosmic landscape and illusion of intelligent design", DESY Hamburg (28 September, 2006).Read the whole statement

1998Sakurai PrizeAward1940Born20 May 1940

Also in Deutsch

Media & music

Photos 2

Susskind giving 2014 Messenger Lecture at Cornell

In their own words 4

Leonard Susskind

4 statements, newest first

The standard SU(3)×SU(2)×U(1) theory of strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions appears to correctly describe physics down to the smallest distance scales yet probed.
, Own words
Elegance requires that the number of defining equations be small. Five is better than ten, and one is better than five.
, Own words
Most constants are adjusted with a deviation of one percent, which means that if the value differs by one percent everything collapses.
La maggior parte delle costanti è regolata con uno scarto dell’uno per cento, il che significa che se il valore differisce dell’uno per, Own words

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Awards

ICTP Dirac Medal2023

Pomeranchuk Prize2008

Sakurai Prize1998

Science Writing Award

Messenger Lectures

About this person

He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an associate member of the faculty of Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and a distinguished professor of the Korea Institute for Advanced Study.

Country

United States