David Gross

By Erik J. Larson, PhD

David Gross was born in Washington D.C. in 1941. He earned his BSc and MSc degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and went on to complete a PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. Gross is currently the Chancellor’s Chair Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was formerly KITP director and held the Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics. Gross is also a member of the Physics Department at UC Santa Barbara.

Gross is known for his work with his former graduate student, Frank Wilczek, for their work on and eventually discovery of asymptotic freedom. This led also to a formulation of quantum chromodynamics, the theory of strong nuclear forces. He has also done important work on string theory, notably the so-called heterotic string—a hybrid of a superstring and a bosonic string (hence “heterotic”).

Gross along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 for his contribution to the theory of asymptotic freedom. He won the Dirac Medal in 1998 and the Harvey Prize in 2000.

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