Ruth Durrer
{{Short description|Astroparticle physicist and researcher}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Ruth Durrer
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age |1958}}
| birth_place = Kerns
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| fields = Astroparticle physics
| workplaces = University of Zürich
University of Geneva
University of Cambridge
Princeton University
| alma_mater = University of Zürich
| thesis_title = Gauge-Invariant Cosmological Perturbation Theory
| thesis_url = https://uzb.swisscovery.slsp.ch/permalink/41SLSP_UZB/18ib5b3/alma990004978440205508
| thesis_year = 1988
| doctoral_advisor = Norbert Straumann
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Ruth Durrer (born 1958) is a professor of Cosmology at the University of Geneva. She works on the cosmic microwave background, brane cosmology and massive gravity.
Early life and education
Durrer was born in Kerns. She earned her high school diploma at Kantonales Lehrerseminar, and studied at the University of Zürich. She completed her PhD on perturbation theory with Norbert Straumann at the University of Zürich in 1988.{{Cite web|url=https://cosmology.unige.ch/users/ruth-durrer|title=Ruth Durrer {{!}} Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics - University of Geneva|website=cosmology.unige.ch|language=en|access-date=2019-04-28}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.ams.org/id.php?id=105798|title=Ruth Durrer - The Mathematics Genealogy Project|website=www.genealogy.ams.org|access-date=2019-04-29}} She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge for a year, before joining Princeton University in 1989.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ias.edu/scholars/ruth-durrer|title=Ruth Durrer|website=Institute for Advanced Study|language=en|access-date=2019-04-28}} Durrer returned to Zürich in 1991, completing a postdoctoral fellowship.
Research and career
Durrer was made an assistant professor at the University of Zürich in 1992, and full professor at the University of Geneva in 1995.{{Cite web|url=http://fiteoweb.unige.ch/~durrer/|title=Ruth's Homepage|website=fiteoweb.unige.ch|access-date=2019-04-28}} She is a member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.{{Cite web|url=https://perimeterinstitute.ca/people/ruth-durrer|title=Ruth Durrer {{!}} Perimeter Institute|website=perimeterinstitute.ca|access-date=2019-04-28}} She works on the cosmic microwave background and massive gravity.{{Cite book|title=The cosmic microwave background|last=Durrer, Ruth.|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780511424069|location=Cambridge, UK|oclc=297170401}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.nccr-swissmap.ch/people/ruth-durrer|title=Ruth Durrer {{!}} SwissMAP|website=www.nccr-swissmap.ch|access-date=2019-04-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://courses.ipht.cnrs.fr/?q=fr/node/74|title=Cosmology and the cosmic microwave background {{!}} Cours de physique théorique|website=courses.ipht.cnrs.fr|access-date=2019-04-28|publisher=Institut de physique théorique - IPhT Saclay}} Massive gravity describes an expanding universe with massive gravitons, which weakens gravity on large scales.{{Cite web|url=http://www.colloquium.phys.ethz.ch/programme/previous/autumn15/durrer.html|title=Ruth Durrer|website=www.colloquium.phys.ethz.ch|language=en|access-date=2019-04-28}} Durrer uses cosmological observations as a test for general relativity.{{Cite web|url=https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/Testing+General+Relativity+with+Cosmological+observations+-+Ruth+Durrer/1_f2yvcrn0|title=Testing General Relativity with Cosmological observations - Ruth Durrer|website=Media Hopper Create - The University of Edinburgh Media Platform|language=en|access-date=2019-04-28}}
Durrer has contributed extensively to the theoretical understanding of topological defects. She showed that cosmic textures can suppress the acoustic peaks of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background.{{Cite journal|last1=Durrer|first1=Ruth|last2=Gangui|first2=Alejandro|last3=Sakellariadou|first3=Mairi|date=1996-01-22|title=Doppler Peaks in the Angular Power Spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background: A Fingerprint of Topological Defects|journal=Physical Review Letters|volume=76|issue=4|pages=579–582|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.579|pmid=10061495|arxiv=astro-ph/9507035|bibcode=1996PhRvL..76..579D|s2cid=16031907}} This results confirm that cosmic textures are not responsible for the distribution of matter in the observed universe. She worked with Neil Turok to demonstrate it is possible to use terrestrial lab-based experiments to test cosmological phase transitions in the early universe.{{Cite journal|last1=Yurke|first1=Bernard|last2=Turok|first2=Neil|last3=Durrer|first3=Ruth|last4=Chuang|first4=Isaac|date=1991-03-15|title=Cosmology in the Laboratory: Defect Dynamics in Liquid Crystals|journal=Science|language=en|volume=251|issue=4999|pages=1336–1342|doi=10.1126/science.251.4999.1336|issn=0036-8075|pmid=17816188|bibcode=1991Sci...251.1336C|s2cid=33894124}} These include using liquid crystals to study the scaling solutions of string networks. She has also demonstrated that density fluctuations in the early universe can result in the cosmological magnetic fields.{{Cite journal|last=Durrer|first=Ruth|date=2006-02-10|title=Is the Mystery of Cosmic Magnetic Fields Solved?|journal=Science|language=en|volume=311|issue=5762|pages=787–788|doi=10.1126/science.1122395|issn=0036-8075|pmid=16469908|s2cid=1522770|url=http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:946}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125671-700-north-of-the-big-bang/|title=North of the Big Bang|website=www.newscientist.com|access-date=2019-04-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201005/members.cfm|title=Members in the Media|website=www.aps.org|language=en|access-date=2019-04-28}} She showed that the scaling properties of these primordial magnetic fields can be determined by causality arguments alone.{{Cite journal|last1=Durrer|first1=Ruth|last2=Caprini|first2=Chiara|date=2003-11-19|title=Primordial magnetic fields and causality|journal=Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics|volume=2003|issue=11|pages=010|doi=10.1088/1475-7516/2003/11/010|issn=1475-7516|arxiv=astro-ph/0305059|bibcode=2003JCAP...11..010D|s2cid=53768021}}
Durrer studied an extended area of space, separating it into 60 billion zones and using the c++ library LATfield2 with a supercomputer to study the movement of individual particles.{{Cite web|url=https://dailygalaxy.com/2016/03/spacetime-and-gravitational-waves-yield-a-new-view-of-the-universe/|title=Spacetime and Gravitational Waves Yield a New View of the Universe|date=2016-03-07|website=The Daily Galaxy|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-28}} She used Einstein's equations to calculate the distance in metric space, comparing this with the prediction of Newton's methods. She has investigated dark energy.{{Cite journal|last=Durrer Ruth|date=2011-12-28|title=What do we really know about dark energy?|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|volume=369|issue=1957|pages=5102–5114|doi=10.1098/rsta.2011.0285|pmid=22084297|bibcode=2011RSPTA.369.5102D|doi-access=free|arxiv=1103.5331}}
Durrer was elected to Academia Net by the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.academia-net.org/profil/prof-ruth-durrer/1163466|title=Prof. Ruth Durrer - AcademiaNet|website=www.academia-net.org|access-date=2019-04-28}} She is a member of the committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics International Society on General Relative and Gravitation.{{Cite web|url=http://iupap.org/commissions/affiliated-commissions/ac-2-international-commission-on-general-relativity-and-gravitation/members/|title=AC2: Members {{!}} IUPAP: The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics|website=iupap.org|access-date=2019-04-29}} She has held visiting academic positions at University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, University of Paris-Sud and Galileo Galilei Institute.
= Books =
- {{cite book|last1=Durrer |first1=Ruth |last2=García-Bellido |first2=Juan |last3=Shaposhnikov |first3=Mikhail |title=Cosmology and Particle Physics |year=2001 | oclc=46930644 |publisher=American Institute of Physics |isbn=1563969866 |location=Melville, New York}}
- {{cite book|title=The Cosmic Microwave Background |year=2008 |last=Durrer|first=Ruth |isbn=9780511817205 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511817205 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |s2cid=118734246 |oclc=297170401}}Reviews of The Cosmic Microwave Background:
- {{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.3206096 |title=The Cosmic Microwave Background; A Primer on the Physics of the Cosmic Microwave Background |journal=Physics Today |last=Slosar |first=Anže |date=2009-08-01 |volume=62 |number=8 |page=44|bibcode=2009PhT....62h..44D |doi-access= }}
- {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10714-009-0791-0 |title=Ruth Durrer: The cosmic microwave background |last=Bartelmann |first=Matthias |year=2009 |volume=41 |number=7 |pages=1671–1673 |journal=General Relativity and Gravitation|s2cid=117069473 }}
- {{cite journal|doi=10.1088/0264-9381/26/16/169002 |title=BOOK REVIEW: The Cosmic Microwave Background |last=Coles |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Coles |year=2009 |volume=26 |number=16 |page=169002 |journal=Classical and Quantum Gravity|s2cid=250790765 }}
- {{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00107510902884410 |title=The Cosmic Microwave Background, by R. Durrer, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008, xii + 401 pp., £40.00 (hardback), ISBN 978 0 521 84704 9. Scope: textbook/reference text. Level: advanced. |journal=Contemporary Physics |volume=50 |number=5 |pages=604–605 |last=Matravers |first=David |year=2009|doi-access=free }}
= Awards and honours =
Her awards and honours include;
= Personal life =
References
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Category:University of Zurich alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Zurich
Category:Academic staff of the University of Geneva