Faculty Type: 
Active Faculty
Title: 
The Hamamoto Family Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences
Address: 

Varian Physics Rm. 374
382 Via Pueblo Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-4060

Phone Number: 
650-723-4231
Fax Number: 
650-723-9389
Contact Email: 
savas@stanford.edu
Group Website: 
StanfordWho directory listing
Support Staff: 
Julie Shih

What is the origin of mass? Are there other universes with different physical laws?

Professor Dimopoulos has been searching for answers to some of the deepest mysteries of nature. Why is gravity so weak? Do elementary particles have substructure? What is the origin of mass? Are there new dimensions? Can we produce black holes in the lab?

Elementary particle physics is entering a spectacular new era in which experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will soon shed light on such questions and lead to a new deeper theory of particle physics, replacing the Standard Model proposed forty years ago. The two leading candidates for new theories are the Supersymmetric Standard Model and theories with Large Extra Dimensions, both proposed by Professor Dimopoulos and collaborators.

Professor Dimopoulos is collaborating on a number of experiments that use the dramatic advances in atom interferometry to do fundamental physics. These include testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity to fifteen decimal precision, atom neutrality to thirty decimals, and looking for modifications of quantum mechanics. He is also designing an atom-interferometric gravity-wave detector that will allow us to look at the universe with gravity waves instead of light, marking the dawn of gravity wave astronomy and cosmology.

Career History

  • Ph.D., 1978, University of Chicago 
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University, 1978-79 
  • Assistant, Associate, Full Professor, Stanford University, 1979-Now
  • Visiting Professor, ITP UC Santa Barbara, 1981
  • Associate Professor, Harvard University, 1981-1983
  • Visiting Professor, Boston University, 1989
  • Staff Member, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, 1994-1997

Honors and Awards

  • Hamamoto Family Professorship in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford, 2007
  • Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006)
  • Winner of the 2006 J. J. Sakurai Prize in Theoretical Physics:
    “For his creative ideas on dynamical symmetry breaking, supersymmetry, and extra spatial dimensions, which have shaped theoretical research on TeV-scale physics, thereby inspiring a wide range of experiments.”
  • Winner of the 2006 Tomassoni Prize in Physics.
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow 
  • Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science 
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Houston, Texas