Edward Witten (1951 - ) is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Edward Witten is a mathematical physicist who does research in M-theory which is a unification of 5 superstring theories. Superstring/M-theory is a promising candidate to be the unifying theory for the four forces (gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear) and provides a fundamental link between quantum mechanics and general relativity, previously thought to be incompatible. Edward Witten is heralded as the foremost mathematical theoretical physicist in his time and for his contributions to physics and math, he has obtained many awards, with the Fields Medal in 1990 (mathematics Nobel Prize) being one of them. He has insipired his colleges and has sparked the second revolution in superstring theory.