Prof.Claudio Bunster

Prof. Claudio Bunster, Guest Lecturer at the Emilio Segre Distinguished Lectures in Physics Endowed by Raymond and Beverly Sackler for the academic year 2012/2013, is the Director of Centro de Estudios Cienti´ficos (CES, Chile).

Prof. Claudio Bunster (formerly named Claudio Teitelboim Weitzman till 2005) received his Ph.D. in 1973. in physics from the University of Princeton and went on to post-doctoral studies and also became a long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study there. After four years as a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin (USA), he moved back to Chile to found the Centro de Estudios Cienti´ficos in 1984.  Alongside his academic activities, Prof. Bunster was involved with public service as an advisor for President Eduardo Frei’s administration (1994-2000) and a member of the Dialogue Board on Human Rights established by Chile’s Government.

Prof. Bunster was awarded the Chilean National Science Prize in 1995 and was elected foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2005. In 2001 he was awarded the Humboldt Award and in 2013 he was awarded the TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize.

Prof. Bunster’s research interests include black holes and quantum super space as well as Chilean geography. Many terms in the field of quantum gravity bear his name, for example the Regge–Teitelboim moniker, the Regge–Teitelboim model and the Regge–Teitelboim equations.