Top Canadian superstring theorist inducted into Royal Society

Rob Myers, Faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada has been named a Royal Society of Canada Fellow. Prof. Myers is only 1 of 10 distinguished scientists accepted into the Mathematical and Physical Scientists division this year.

Robert Myers is an outstanding theoretical physicist whose research, characterized by deep physical insights and originality, has made him Canada's most renowned string theorist and places him among the highest ranks of string theorists around the world. His highly-cited groundbreaking contributions in gravitational physics and string theory include:

* Pioneering research on gravity in higher dimensions/black holes
* The discovery of the "Myers effect" in M-theory
* Work showing that cosmic superstrings may leave an observable imprint in the sky

The Royal Society membership follows a distinguished record of awards and recognition for Meyers including:

* The 2005 CAP/CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics
* The 1999 CAP Herzberg medal
* Top prizes in the annual Gravity Research Foundation Prize Essay Competition

This is the same competition that famed scientist Stephen Hawking once won.

Rob has since taken top spot on two separate occasions.

Interaction with the international community is a strong focus of Rob's work. He was a co-organizer of Strings 2005, and a member of the international advisory committee for Strings 2006, recently held in Beijing.

Widely credited with being instrumental in building string theory within Canada, Myers was among the first researchers hired by Perimeter Institute in 2001. He received his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1986, after which he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Professor of Physics at McGill University.

Source: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics