Lisa Randall

Randall was born in Queens, New York City, New York. She is an alumna of Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics; and she graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1980,[4] where she was a classmate of fellow physicist and science popularizer Brian Greene.[4][5] She won first place in the 1980 Westinghouse Science Talent Search at the age of 18 and was also named a National Merit Scholar. At Harvard University, Randall earned both a BA in physics (1983) and a PhD in theoretical particle physics (1987) under Howard Georgi.[1]

Randall researches particle physics and cosmology at Harvard, where she is a professor of theoretical physics. Her research concerns elementary particles and fundamental forces, and has involved the study of a wide variety of models, the most recent involving dimensions. She has also worked on supersymmetry, Standard Model observables, cosmological inflation, baryogenesis, grand unified theories, and general relativity.

After her graduate work at Harvard, Randall held professorships at MIT and Princeton University before returning to Harvard in 2001.[6] Professor Randall was the first tenured woman in the Princeton physics department and the first tenured female theoretical physicist at Harvard. (Melissa Franklin was the first tenured woman in the Harvard physics department.)[7][8]

Randall's books Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions and Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World have both been on New York Times 100 notable books lists.[1]

Between the hardback and paperback release of Knocking on Heaven's Door, the quest for the discovery of the Higgs boson was actually completed, a subject discussed in the book. Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider found a particle identified as the Higgs boson.[9][10] She said about the discovery, that even if people don't understand everything about it, "what an exciting thing it is that people are excited that there is something fundamentally new that has been discovered."[11] Randall has an e-book entitled Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space. Before the Large Hadron Collider was operating, she wrote an article explaining the discoveries that were expected from using it.[12] She was commonly asked about the misconception that the LHC could make black holes that could destroy the planet.[13] She answered that it was "not even conceivable unless space and gravity are very different from what we thought."[12]

Randall wrote the libretto of the opera Hypermusic Prologue: A Projective Opera in Seven Planes on the invitation of the composer, Hèctor Parra, who was inspired by her book Warped Passages.[14]

Randall is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2004) and the National Academy of Sciences (2008),[2] and a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Randall has helped organize numerous conferences and has been on the editorial board of several major theoretical physics journals.[1][6]

In autumn 2004, she was the most cited theoretical physicist of the previous five years. Professor Randall was featured in Seed magazine's "2005 Year in Science Icons" and in Newsweek's "Who's Next in 2006" as "one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation". In 2007, Randall was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (Time 100) under the section for "Scientists & Thinkers". Randall was given this honor for her work regarding the evidence of a higher dimension.[15]

Other honors:

• J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics 2019[16]
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Andrew Gemant Award, 2012[17]
• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, 2008[18]
• Lilienfeld Prize, 2007[19]
• E. A. Wood Science Writing Award, 2007[20]
• Klopsteg Memorial Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), 2006[21][22]
• Premio Caterina Tomassoni e Felice Pietro Chisesi Award, from the Sapienza University of Rome, 2003[23]
• National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, 1992[24][25]
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship
• DOE Outstanding Junior Investigator Award.

In an interview she was asked whether she believes in God.

"...I probably don't believe in God. I think it's a problem that people are considered immoral if they're not religious. That's just not true. This might earn me some enemies, but in some ways they may be even more moral. If you do something for a religious reason, you do it because you'll be rewarded in an afterlife or in this world. That's not quite as good as something you do for purely generous reasons." [26]

Randall's sister, Dana Randall, is a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech.[27]

• Randall, Lisa (2005). Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions. Ecco Press. ISBN 0-06-053108-8.
• Randall, Lisa (2011). Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World. Ecco. ISBN 978-0-06-172372-8.
• Randall, Lisa (2013). Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space. Ecco. ISBN 978-0062300478.
• Randall, Lisa (2015). Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe. Ecco. ISBN 978-0-06-232847-2.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Lisa Randall

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lisa Randall.

• Professor Randall's website at Harvard
• Reprinted Op-Ed from The New York Times of Sunday, September 18, 2005
• Lisa Randall's Bio Page, Edge Foundation
• On Gravity, Oreos and a Theory of Everything (New York Times, November 1, 2005)
• (archived from Radio Interview) from This Week in Science May 9, 2006 Broadcast
• Profile in Scientific American, October 2005
• Attiyeh, Jenny (2006-04-11). "Lisa Randall discusses "Warped Passages"". Thoughtcast. Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
• Lisa Randall is interviewed by Charlie Rose
• Lisa Randall at IMDb