Alexander Vilenkin

Background

Vilenkin, Alexander was born on May 13, 1949 in Kharkov, Ukraine. Son of Vladimir and Fira (Goldstein) Vilenkin. came to the United States, 1976.

Education

Physicist, Kharkov State University, 1971; Doctor of Philosophy, State University of New York, Buffalo, 1977.

Career

A theoretical physicist who has been working in the field of cosmology for 25 years, Vilenkin has written over 150 papers. Soon after Paul Steinhardt presented the first example of eternal inflation, Vilenkin showed that eternal inflation is generic. Working with Arvin Borde and Alan Guth, In 2003, he showed that a period of inflation has to have a beginning and there has to be a period that precedes it.

This is a problem because, without a theory to explain the conditions before inflation, it is not possible to determine how likely it is for inflation ever to occur. Some considerations suggest that the probability is very small, resulting the "initial conditions problem.”

He also introduced the idea of quantum creation of the universe from a quantum vacuum. His work in cosmic strings has been pivotal.

Vilenkin received his undergraduate degree in physics in 1971 in the former Soviet Union (University of Kharkiv). He later moved to the United States, where he obtained his Ph.D. at Buffalo. His work has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles in the United States, Europe, Soviet Union, and Japan, and in many popular books.

Vilenkin sometimes wears sunglasses when giving seminars which give him a characteristic appearance. Apparently these are because his eyes are sensitive to bright projector lights.

Works

• book

  • Cosmic Strings and Other Topological Defects (Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics)

    (This book is a comprehensive and coherent introduction to...)

Membership

Fellow American Physical Society.

Connections

Married Inna Simone, October 12, 1973. 1child, Alina.

Father:

Vladimir Vilenkin

Mother:

Fira (Goldstein) Vilenkin

Spouse:

Inna Simone