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{{short description|Indian physicist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image = Vijay Balasubramanian.jpg
| birth_date = 1969
| birth_place = Bombay (Mumbai), India
| fields = String Theory, Quantum Field Theory, Biophysics (Theoretical Neuroscience), Statistical Inference, Machine Learning
| doctoral_advisor = Curtis Callan
| education = {{ubl|[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (B.S. Physics and Computer Science, M.S. Computer Science)|[[Princeton University]] (Ph.D., Physics)}}
| workplaces = [[University of Pennsylvania]]
[[Aspen Center for Physics]]
[[Santa Fe Institute]]
| known_for = String Theory: AdS/CFT Correspondence, Large Volume Compactifications, Black Hole Information Paradox, Quantum Information. Biophysics: Energy Efficient Computation, Efficient Coding and Sensory Circuits in the Brain, Theory of Retinal Circuits, Theory of Spatial Cognition, Adaptive Molecular Sensing (Olfaction and Immune System). Inference and Learning: Occam's Razor in Statistical Inference, Complexity in Decision Making.
}}
'''Vijay Balasubramanian''' (born 1969{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}) is an American theoretical physicist and the Cathy and Marc Lasry Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vijay Balasubramanian Named Lasry Professor {{!}} Department of Physics and Astronomy|url=https://www.physics.upenn.edu/news/vijay-balasubramanian-named-lasry-professor|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.physics.upenn.edu}}</ref> He has conducted research in [[string theory]], [[quantum field theory]], and [[biophysics]] (especially theoretical and [[computational neuroscience]]). He has also worked on problems in [[statistical inference]] and [[machine learning]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~vbalasub/public-html/Home.html|title=Vijay Balasubramanian|last=|first=|date=|website=Vijay Balasubramanian, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 8, 2019}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Born in [[Mumbai]], Balasubramanian spent his childhood in major Indian cities like [[New Delhi]], [[Chennai]], [[Kolkata]], and [[Hyderabad]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} Among the elementary schools he attended are [[St. Mary's School, Mumbai|St. Mary's in Mumbai]], [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School|St. Xavier]]’s in Kolkata, and [[St. Columba's School, Delhi|St. Columba’s]] in New Delhi. His family later moved to [[Jakarta]], Indonesia, where he attended [[Jakarta Intercultural School|Jakarta International School]] (JIS). After graduating from JIS, he moved to the United States and attended the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT), where he earned B.S. degrees in Physics and Computer Science and an M.S. degree in Computer Science.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://poggio-lab.mit.edu/people/vijay-balasubramanian|title=Poggio Lab: Vijay Balasubramanian|last=Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)|date=|website=Poggio Lab|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 8, 2019}}</ref> While a student at MIT, he worked at [[CERN]] (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) and the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center ([[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]]). For this work at Xerox PARC, he received two patents in [[speech recognition]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5655058|title=Segmentation of audio data for indexing of conversational speech for real-time or postprocessing applications|last=Balasubramanian|first=Vijay|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5606643|title=Real-time audio recording system for automatic speaker indexing|last=Balasubramanian|first=Vijay|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref>

Vijay Balasubramanian completed his doctoral studies at [[Princeton University]], where he received a Ph.D. in Physics in 1997 under the supervision of [[Curtis Callan]]. He then moved to [[Harvard University]] as a Junior Fellow of the [[Harvard Society of Fellows]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://socfell.fas.harvard.edu/listed-field-0|title=Current and Former Junior Fellows|last=Harvard University, Society of Fellows|first=Society of Fellows|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref> During this time, he was also a fellow-at-large of the [[Santa Fe Institute]]. Since 2000, he has been a professor at the University of Pennsylvania where he currently holds the Cathy and [[Marc Lasry]] Chair in Physics<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.physics.upenn.edu/people/standing-faculty/vijay-balasubramanian|title=Vijay Balasubramanian|last=Penn Arts & Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy|date=2019|website=University of Pennsylvania, Penn Arts & Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 12, 2019}}</ref> and where he has a secondary appointment in the School of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience. In 2013, he co-founded the [https://cni.upenn.edu Computational Neuroscience Initiative at Penn].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cni.upenn.edu|title=Computational Neuroscience Initiative (CNI)|last=University of Pennsylvania, Computational Neuroscience Initiative (CNI)|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref>

In October 2021, he was a featured speaker in the [[Netflix]] documentary series ''[[Explained (TV series)|Explained]]'', in the episode on "Time."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prof. Vijay Balasubramanian featured in episode of Netflix series Explained {{!}} Department of Physics and Astronomy |url=https://live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/news/prof-vijay-balasubramanian-featured-episode-netflix-series-explained |access-date=2022-04-06 |website=live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Time |date=2021-10-01 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15528442/ |series=Explained |access-date=2022-04-06}}</ref> In 2022, [[Quanta Magazine|''Quanta'' ''Magazine'']] featured him in an article and video in which he discussed connections between physics, computer science, neurosciences, and humanities fields such as literature. ''Quanta'' described him as a "polymath who is prone to leaping from string theory to Proust in mid-conversation."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wood |first=Charlie |date=April 20, 2022 |title=Pondering the Bits That Build Space-Time and Brains |url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/pondering-the-bits-that-build-space-time-and-brains-20220420/ |journal=Quanta}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Quanta Magazine |date=April 20, 2022 |title=The Physicist Who Travels across Disciplines, Space and Time |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Xss37zYkc |website=Quanta Magazine}}</ref> In 2023, the [[Catalan language|Catalan]]-language daily newspaper of [[Barcelona]], ''[[Ara (newspaper)|Ara]]'', featured him in an article in which he discussed the relative powers and limits of the human brain and of [[Artificial intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]], and what physics can bring to the study of theoretical and computational neuroscience.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pou |first=Toni |date=2023-10-06 |title=Vijay Balasubramanian: "Moltes de les coses que es fan amb intel·ligència artificial són irritants i inútils" |url=https://www.ara.cat/ciencia-medi-ambient/moltes-coses-intel-ligencia-artificial-son-irritants-inutils_128_4820469.html |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Ara.cat |language=ca}}</ref>

== Affiliations ==
Vijay Balasubramanian has been a research associate and visiting professor at many institutions. These include [[Rockefeller University]]; the [[Graduate Center, CUNY|City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center]];<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Faculty/Core-Bios/Vijay-Balasubramanian|title=Vijay Balasubramanian|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708204215/https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Faculty/Core-Bios/Vijay-Balasubramanian|archive-date=8 July 2019|access-date=July 7, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> the [[École normale supérieure (Paris)|École Normale Supérieure]] (ENS) in Paris, France; the [[International Centre for Theoretical Physics]] (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy; and the [[Vrije Universiteit Brussel]] (VUB) in Brussels, Belgium.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://we.vub.ac.be/en/vijay-balasubramanian|title=Prof. Dr. Vijay Balasubramanian|last=Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref> In 2007–8, he was a fellow at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] (IAS) (Princeton), supported by an IAS grant from Helen and Martin Chooljian.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ias.edu/scholars/vijay-balasubramanian|title=Past Member: Vijay Balasubramanian|last=Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref> Since 2011, he has been a General Member of the [[Aspen Center for Physics]] in Aspen, Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aspenphys.org/aboutus/governance/board/members.php|title=Aspen Center for Physics, Members|last=Aspen Center for Physics|date=|website=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230114723/https://www.aspenphys.org/aboutus/governance/board/members.php|archive-date=30 December 2017|access-date=July 13, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2022, he became an External Professor of the [[Santa Fe Institute]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vijay Balasubramanian {{!}} Santa Fe Institute |url=https://www.santafe.edu//people/profile/vijay-Balasubramanian |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=www.santafe.edu |language=en}}</ref>

== Honors ==
Vijay Balasubramanian has won many prizes and fellowships. In 2005, Balasubramanian won first prize in the [[Gravity Research Foundation]] essay competition, with his colleagues [[Donald Marolf|Don Marolf]] and Moshe Rozali for an essay on “Information Recovery from Black Holes”.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gravityresearchfoundation.org/competition|title=Recent First Award Winners|last=Gravity Research Foundation|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref> In 2006, he won the Ira H. Abrams Award for Distinguished Teaching – the highest teaching award given by the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.<ref name=":0" /> In 2012-13 he won a fellowship from the Fondation [[Pierre-Gilles de Gennes]], which he held at the [[École normale supérieure (Paris)|École Normale Supérieure]] (ENS) in Paris, France. In 2015, Balasubramanian was part of the international team of string theorists, computer scientists, and quantum information theorists that won a major grant from the [[Simons Foundation]] in New York to investigate the emergence of the fabric of spacetime from information. Their project is entitled, [https://www.simonsfoundation.org/mathematics-physical-sciences/it-from-qubit/ "It from Qubit: Simons Collaboration on Quantum Fields, Gravity, and Information"].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.simonsfoundation.org/mathematics-physical-sciences/it-from-qubit/|title=It from Qubit: Simons Collaboration on Quantum Fields, Gravity, and Information|last=Simons Foundation|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=July 13, 2019}}</ref>

In 2019, the [[American Physical Society]] honored Balasubramanian by recognizing him as a Fellow of the society.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/index.cfm|title=APS Fellowship|last=American Physical Society|date=September 19, 2019|website=www.aps.org|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529165524/https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/index.cfm|archive-date=29 May 2020|access-date=2019-09-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> His citation as a 2019 APS Fellow noted his "fundamental contributions clarifying the [[black hole]] information puzzle and black hole thermodynamics through work on the duality of quantum gravity and [[quantum field theory]], and on black hole microscopics in theories of [[quantum gravity]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm|title=APS Fellow Archive|last=American Physical Society|date=September 19, 2019|website=www.aps.org|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-09-19}}</ref>

== Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows ==
Vijay Balasubramanian's PhD students have included [https://icts.ustc.edu.cn/chinese/people/MinXin%20Huang/mxhuang.html Minxin Huang] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515061613/http://icts.ustc.edu.cn/chinese/people/MinXin%20Huang/mxhuang.html |date=15 May 2015 }} (University of Science and Technology, China), [http://www.castu.tsinghua.edu.cn/publish/cas/1696/2018/20181123163940194277971/20181123163940194277971_.html Bartlomiej (Bartek) Czech] (Tsinghua University, Beijing, China), [https://neuroscience.utexas.edu/component/cobalt/item/4128-wei-xuexin?Itemid=1258 Xue-xin Wei] (University of Texas, Austin), Klaus Larjo (Goldman-Sachs), Jason Prentice, Thomas Levi, Kristina Simmons, Charles Ratliff, John Briguglio, Kamesh Krishnamurthy, Alex Keinath (University of Illinois Chicago),[https://psch.uic.edu/profiles/keinath-alex/] Louis Kang (RIKEN Center for Brain Science)[https://louiskang.group], Arjun Kar, Matthew DeCross, Cathy Li, Ron Ditullio, and David Kersen.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

He has mentored many postdoctoral fellows including [https://www.janelia.org/people/ann-hermundstad Ann Hermundstad] (Janelia Research Campus, HHMI), [https://ist.ac.at/en/research/life-sciences/tkacik-group/ Gasper Tkacik] (Institute of Science and Technology [IST], Austria), [https://www.sju.edu/about-sju/faculty-staff/patrick-garrigan-phd Patrick Garrigan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918224723/http://sju.edu/about-sju/faculty-staff/patrick-garrigan-phd |date=18 September 2015 }} (St. Joseph's University), [https://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/school-of-mathematics/people?person=123 Joan Simon] (University of Edinburgh), [https://www.ipht.fr/en/Phocea/Vie_des_labos/News/index.php?id_news=753 Monica Guica] (Institut de Physique Théoretique, Paris [Saclay]), [https://www.simonsfoundation.org/team/tiberiu-tesileanu/ Tiberiu Tesileanu] (Flatiron Institute, New York), Serena Bradde (American Physical Society), [https://www.ncat.edu/employee-bio.php?directoryID=1881560878 Vijay Singh] (North Carolina A&T State), Asad Naqvi (Goldman-Sachs), Onkar Parrikar (TIFR Mumbai), Gabor Sarosi, Charles Rabideau, [https://www.hakubi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/eng/mem/10th/member-10-eng-2 Tomonori Ugajin] (Kyoto University), Eugenio Piasini (SISSA)[https://phdcns.sissa.it/faculty/eugenio-piasini], Gaia Tavoni (Washington University in St. Louis)[https://neuroscience.wustl.edu/people/gaia-tavoni-phd/], Clélia de Mulatier (University of Amsterdam)[https://www.uva.nl/en/profile/m/u/c.m.c.demulatier/c.m.c.de-mulatier.html], Philipp Fleig, Menachem (Nachi) Stern, Edgar Shaghoulian (University of California, Santa [https://www.physics.ucsc.edu/faculty/index.php?uid=eshaghou Cruz]), and Javier Magan (Instituto Balseiro, Bariloche, Argentina).<ref>{{Cite web|title=People {{!}} Department of Physics and Astronomy|url=https://live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/living-matter/people|access-date=2020-07-20|website=live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu|archive-date=20 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720092209/https://live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/living-matter/people|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Cite web |last=Wood |first=Charlie |date=2022-04-20 |title=Pondering the Bits That Build Space-Time and Brains |url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/pondering-the-bits-that-build-space-time-and-brains-20220420/ |access-date=2022-04-21 |website=[[Quanta Magazine]] |language=en}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balasubramanian, Vijay}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1969 births]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Indian string theorists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Harvard Fellows]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty]]
[[Category:MIT School of Science alumni]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Aspen Center for Physics people]]
[[Category:Santa Fe Institute people]]
[[Category:American scientists of Asian descent]]

Vijay Balasubramanian - Revision history

Rohit Singh: created a details and citations