Atish Dabholkar is a theoretical physicist who researches on string theory and quantum black holes.
String theory says that reality is made up of vibrating strings that are smaller than atoms and electrons, whereas, black holes are regions in space with very heavy mass. One can say they eat up everything that enter it. Due to their high gravitational pull even light cannot escape from them. Now, quantum black holes are hypothetical tiny black holes, a concept that was introduced by Stephen Hawking.
Atish Dhabolkar is presently the Director of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy. He is a graduate of IIT-Kanpur. He did PhD in theoretical physics from Princeton University, U.S. Then he did postdoctoral studies and further research at Rutgers University, Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology.
He worked as a professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. He also served as a visiting professor at Stanford University, US, and was a visiting scientist at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. He joined ICTP in 2014.
He has received many honours, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (2006). He was awarded the Chaire d’Excellence of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France the next year. He is also a recipient of the National Leadership award from the President of India in 2008. The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Italy, elected him as a Fellow last year.
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