Alan Guth is a world renowned physicist who has won innumerable awards. He has held postdoctoral positions at Princeton University, Columbia University, Cornell University, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), working mostly on rather abstract mathematical problems in the theory of elementary particles. While at Cornell, Guth was persuaded to join the study of the production of magnetic monopoles in the early universe. This work changed the direction of Guth's career. They found that standard assumptions in particle physics and cosmology would lead to a fantastic overproduction of magnetic monopoles. From this work, Guth invented a revolutionary modification of the big bang theory called the inflationary universe. Recently he was among the first winners of the Fundamental Physics Prize established by Yuri Milner, which carries with it a $3 million dollar award. He is now the Victor F. Weisskopf Professor of Physics and a Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT.
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