Randall, Lisa 1962–

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Randall, Lisa 1962–

PERSONAL: Born June 18, 1962; daughter of a sales representative (father) and primary schoolteacher (mother). Education: Harvard University, B.A., 1983, Ph.D., 1987.

ADDRESSES: Home—Cambridge, MA. Office—Harvard University, Department of Physics, 17 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail—randall@physics. harvard.edu.

CAREER: Theoretical physicist, educator, and writer. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, teaching assistant, 1984, Adams House physics tutor, 1984–87, assistant senior tutor, 1985–87; University of California, Berkeley, CA, president's fellow, 1987–89; Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, postdoctoral fellow, 1989–90; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, assistant professor, 1991–95, associate professor, 1995–98, professor of physics, 1998–2001; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, professor of physics, 1998–2000; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, professor of theoretical physics, 2001–. Also Harvard Society of Fellows, junior fellow, 1990–91; Radcliffe Institute fellow, 2002; Radcliffe Institute Cosmology and Theoretical Astrophysics Cluster, chair, 2003; has served as associate editor of Nuclear Physics, 1999–, and editor of the Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, 1997–, and the Journal of High Energy Physics, 1997–98, 2000–.

MEMBER: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Physical Society (fellow), Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS: Westinghouse Science Talent Search winner; John Harvard Scholarship; Radcliffe Scholar; Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Scholar; Bell Labs Graduate Research Fellowship for Women, David J. Robbins Prize; National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, all 1992; Premio Ca-terina Tomassoni e Felice Pietro Chisesi Award, University of Rome, La Sapienza, 2003; American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) Fellow, 2004; Klopsted Award, American Association of Physics Teachers, 2006.

WRITINGS:

Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions, Ecco (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to physics and science journals, including Physical Review Letters and Nature, and to mainstream periodicals, including the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph.

SIDELIGHTS: Lisa Randall is a theoretical physicist who studies particle physics and cosmology and conducts research into the fundamental nature of particles and forces. In her book Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions, the author explores her research into the theory that there are many more dimensions to the world than the three we perceive. Randall explains recent theories that include extra dimensions and brane-worlds that cannot be perceived from our perspective in the universe. She also provides a brief historical analysis of physics in the twentieth century and some of the major theories behind relativity and quantum mechanics.

In an article on the Sunday Times Web site, Sarah Baxter wrote: "There is … something beautiful and appealing about her research. Randall's hidden dimensions can be infinitesimally large or small in size, rolled and compressed like a hosepipe or warped like a distorting mirror at a funfair. A new universe—several, in fact—could fit alongside our own." Writing in Booklist, Gilbert Taylor noted the complexity of the topics but wrote that the author "writes as clearly as possible." A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that the author provides "much of the excitement of her field to life as she describes her quest to understand the structure of the universe." In a review in the Library Journal, Sara Rutter noted that the author's use of stories and other techniques make Randall "like an extraordinarily smart and lively college professor" who is imparting "the excitement of discovery." Writing in Science News, a reviewer noted that the author "provides an excellent primer to the most elusive and groundbreaking concepts of modern physics."