Claudia de Rham was a postdoctoral researcher at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Now she is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London.
Perimeter Institute alumni have gone on to a wide variety of roles after leaving the Institute. Whether scuba-diving, piloting a plane or trying to understand the universe and the laws that govern it, Claudia de Rham is fully locked in. As a professor at Imperial College London, she’s using creativity to study different aspects of cosmology and inspire the next generation of scientists. We reached out to Claudia to learn more about her journey.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What is your current role, and how are you trying to push boundaries in your field?
I am a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London, where I am also the director of the Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics.
My research challenges some of the most fundamental aspects of particle physics, gravity, and cosmology in pursuit of a more fundamental description of the nature of our universe and the laws that govern it. My work has provided new perspectives to understand the origin of the universe, its accelerated expansion, and the fundamental nature of gravity.
My research has resolved an eight-decade-long open investigation on how to consistently give a mass to the fundamental carrier of gravity, with implications from particle physics to gravity and cosmology.
Besides resolving one of the most fundamental questions of gravity, I am recognized internationally as a leader in the application of field theory methods in particle physics, cosmology, and gravitational waves. My other research results have impacted many areas of gravity and cosmology from the question of the origin of the universe and the nature of dark energy, to the detection of gravitational waves and multiband constraints on gravity.
What brought you to where you are now?
I have always been vocal in expressing how I consider Perimeter Institute to have played a determining role throughout not only my career, but also the career of so many outstanding colleagues. As an international hub which fosters scientific collaborations and creativity, the Perimeter Institute has acted as the focus point of my career, providing me with a unique scientific environment to meet with colleagues, a place where I have learned to fall and stand up again. Ghazal Geshnizjani, Justin Khoury, Cliff Burgess, and Gregory Gabadadze are only but a few of the life-changing collaborators I have met at Perimeter Institute and with whom I have connected on more than a purely scientific level, whether it was tackling century-long outstanding problems of physics, setting up international conferences, reasoning with unreasonable problems or colleagues, or flying with them above Ontario shores.
But to dive even deeper into what and whom made me who I am now, without a doubt I would have to give all credits to my incredible PhD students Lavinia Heisenberg and Andrew Matas, whose incredible motivation and deep physical intuition kept me grounded in the toughest of times, and to my partner in life and in science, Andrew Tolley, without whom the laws of the universe would literally stop making sense.
What are you passionate about?
Being a mother of three is probably what defines me the most fully, but like every other physicist that I know, perhaps the spark of everything I do is an ability to get excited by the little things in life, and sticking to them even in the hardest of times.
As a mother, lecturer, scuba diver, researcher, author, swimmer, pilot, and horse rider, people often wonder what pushes me to jump from one activity to another so relentlessly. The reality is that succeeding at any one of these adventures requires diving into them so fully and with so much perseverance that nothing else ever seems to matter. And yet, when I return from each and every single one of these escapades, it becomes always clearer how fully interconnected they are and, in themselves, define who I am. They have taught me how to be at ease in the most uncomfortable of situations, let me embrace the laws of nature to the point when they become second nature even in the most challenging of times, and together have showed me how to let my own mind run free and unleash the levels of creativity mixed with fearlessness that are so deeply needed, whether it is to play with physics and the laws of nature or to play with youngest of souls.
How do you give back to your community?
Throughout my career, I have fostered an inclusive and positive research environment where my team members have reached their full potential, achieved outstanding scientific results and moved onto highly successful careers both in academia and beyond.
I have engaged directly with children and teenagers through various outreach programs, for instance setting up a story-telling show entitled “All the Colors of the Universe" that engages children from diverse backgrounds in a journey through the cosmos.
I have also mentored master's students at the African Institute of Mathematical Studies (AIMS), which supports underprivileged students from all over Africa, and wrote my first popular science book The Beauty of Falling – A Life in Pursuit of Gravity with the aim of encouraging young women and minorities to consider a career in physics.