Shahn Majid | |
|---|---|
 Shahn Majid in 1998 | |
| Born | 1960 Patna, India |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge Harvard University |
| Known for | Quantum groups, quantum spacetime, braided Hopf algebras, octonions |
| Awards | Bleuler Medal |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physicist, mathematician |
| Institutions | Queen Mary, University of London |
| Doctoral advisor | Clifford Taubes Arthur Jaffe |
Shahn Majid (born 1960 in Patna, Bihar, India) is an English pure mathematician and theoretical physicist, trained at Cambridge University and Harvard University and, since 2001, a professor of mathematics at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London.
Majid is best known for his pioneering work on quantum groups where he introduced one of the two main known classes of these objects and worked on all aspects of their theory. His 1995 textbook Foundations of Quantum Group Theory is a standard text still used by researchers today. He also pioneered a quantum groups approach to noncommutative geometry and the use of such methods as a route to quantum gravity,[1][2] leading in 1994 to the first model with testable predictions of quantum spacetime. He is also known for a range of results in algebra and category theory, notably for his theory of braided Hopf algebras and for a new view of the octonions. Although many regard Majid as a pure mathematician, his motivation and early training was in theoretical physics, and pure mathematics merely represents a path in his lifelong search for the 'true nature of physical reality'.[3][4]
In 2008, he edited and co-authored an ambitious book of essays On Space and Time along with Alain Connes, Roger Penrose, John Polkinghorne, Michal Heller and Andrew Taylor, in which the authors aim to expose the frontier of scientific research on the small and large scale structure of the Universe to a general but scientifically interested audience.
- ^ Majid, Shahn (1988), "Hopf algebras for physics at the Planck scale", Classical and Quantum Gravity, 5 (12): 1587–1607, Bibcode:1988CQGra...5.1587M, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.125.6178, doi:10.1088/0264-9381/5/12/010, S2CID 250857702
- ^ Majid, S. (1990), "Physics for algebraists: non-commutative and non-cocommutative Hopf algebras by a bicrossproduct construction", J. Algebra, 130: 17–64, doi:10.1016/0021-8693(90)90099-a
- ^ Majid, S. (1991), "Principle of Representation-Theoretic Self-Duality", Physics Essays, 4 (3): 395–405, Bibcode:1991PhyEs...4..395M, doi:10.4006/1.3028923
- ^ See his personal bio page