Music to Tangle By

Argentine physicist moves to untie universal mysteries

It’s not every physicist that has a song written about him – even if it is just a takeoff on that overplayed nightclub favorite, the Macarena. In tribute to their distinguished colleague, some 200 physicists at a string theory convention grabbed their rears and shimmied toward the ground while bellowing "Ehhhh, Maldacena."

It wasn't the kind of tribute that casts a reverent hush over a crowd, but it couldn't have been more fitting for 32-year-old Argentine Juan Maldacena, who--despite the reputation he's carved for himself at a very early age – speaks with the slightly self-conscious air of a just-off-the-plane college freshman.

"He's unusually modest for someone so brilliant," says physics professor Andrew Strominger, a colleague at Harvard University. "Theoretical physicists are not known for their modesty. When Maldacena started teaching here, he was sometimes mistaken for a grad student."

Maldacena is internationally renowned for contributing to a framework to show that gravity and quantum mechanics – two of the four theories physicists use to explain the universe – are compatible. In some scenarios, the theories aren't consistent. Proponents of so-called string theory have long believed that the theory is the bridge between the two. Maldacena's work analyzing black holes has done much to advance the theory.

Scientists have historically contended that there should be just one law of the universe. Many physicists – including some who've been skeptical of string theory – say Maldacena's discovery could lead to the confirmation of what's known as the Unified Theory. It all depends, of course, on how string theory holds up over time.

The basis of the theory is that all matter is composed of strings. The strings themselves are the smallest possible particles – too small to see with current technology. The strings have a length but no width or height; some theorists believe the strings are closed, like loops, while others believe they have open ends.

"String theory is a theory in construction. It has not been experimentally verified," says Maldacena, who is spending the year as a visiting professor at his alma mater, Princeton University. He came to the United States after completing undergraduate work at the Institute Balseiro in Buenos Aires.

Plucky notion

The behavior of these strings can be used to explain certain theories of physics that seem contradictory, such as the evolution of black holes. "You can describe what happens outside a black hole [with classical physics], but not inside. We either need to modify our theories or find better ones," says the Argentine scientist. "There's a lot of pressure to keep up the good research."

Like many professionals who have left Latin America in search of an elite education, it pains him to be part of the brain drain. He acknowledges that there is an increased interest in physics in countries like Chile, while education overall is improving in Argentina Still, he says there is no money for research – public or private – in his home country. Maldacena does what he can to collaborate with physicists in South America.

When he's not teaching or researching, he hikes, a pastime he embraced while still living in Argentina. Even when he travels to physics conferences, he'll set aside time for a two-hour hike to clear his head. But nowadays, the trail competes with something else: His first child, daughter Cristina, made her appearance in January.

After eight years, Maldacena considers the United States his home. But he carries nostalgia for Argentina and uses vacations to reconnect with family and friends left behind. Last year, during the annual Harvard faculty puppet show, a departmental roasting of sorts, Maldacena was depicted in an "I love Argentina" T-shirt.

He's earned numerous awards for his work and was recently featured in Discover magazine as one of the top 20 scientists to watch in the next century. But he's taking fame in stride.

"It still feels strange but I guess you get used to it," he says.

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