Claudia de Rham

Claudia de Rham (29 March 1978) is a Swiss theoretical physicist working at the interface of gravity, cosmology and particle physics. She is based at Imperial College London. She won the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in 2018 for revitalizing the theory of massive gravity.

Early life and education

Claudia de Rham (29 March 1978) was born in Lausanne.^[1] She completed her undergraduate studies in France, receiving an engineering degree in physics at the Ecole Polytechnique of Paris, in 2000.^[2] She received a Masters degree in Physics from the EPFL, Swiss Institute of Technology, in 2001.^[2] In 2002, de Rham moved to the UK, achieving a PhD in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge on "braneworld cosmology beyond the low-energy limit".^[3]

Research

After her PhD, de Rham moved to Montreal to join the Physics Department at McGill University.^[4][5] She moved to McMaster University and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2006, where she worked in a joint postdoctoral position in Cosmology.^[6] In 2010 she joined Geneva University as an Assistant Professor.^[7][8] She moved to Case Western Reserve University in 2011 and became an Associate Professor there in 2016.^[9][10] She joined Imperial College London in 2016. In 2016 she was awarded a £100,000 Wolfson Merit Award from the Royal Society, "Massive Gravity from Cosmology to Condensed Matter Systems".^[11][12]

Her research is in the area of theoretical cosmology, and she explores gravitational models which could explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe. de Rham is recognised as a researcher at the forefront of the development of theories of Massive Gravity, where the particle carrier of the gravitational force, the graviton, may be massive.^[13] In 2010 de Rham constructed a nonlinear theory of massive graviton, which is theoretically consistent and ghost free.^[14][15] The massive gravity is now known as "de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) theory", owing to the discovery by de Rham, Gabadadze, and Tolley. Her research helps tackle the problem of the cosmological constant, and could describe the accelerated expansion of the universe as a purely gravitational effect, where massive gravitons are responsible for the so-called dark energy.^[2]

In 2015 she gave a TEDx talk on the Nature of the Graviton.^[13][16] She has discussed the under representation of girls in physics with the Ideas Roadshow.^[17] She gives regular public lectures about theoretical cosmology.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Awards

• 2018: St John's College, Cambridge Adams Prize^[22]
• 2018: Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists^[23][24]
• 2017: EPFL Alumni Award^[1]
• 2017-2021: PI on Simons Foundation Award, ‘Origins of the Universe’ program with Rachel Rosen^[25]
• 2017-2022: PI on ERC consolidator grant, for the project “Massive Gravity and Cosmology,"^[26]
• 2016–2021: Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award^[12]
• 2012–2013: PI on ACES Advance Opportunity Grant, for the project “Recent Developments in Massive Gravity"^[27]
• 2010–2014: PI on Swiss National Foundation Professorship Grant, for the project “Challenging the cosmological paradigm"^[27]

References