Eva Silverstein

Eva Silverstein (born October 24, 1970) is an American theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and string theorist.She is best known for her work on early universe cosmology, developing the structure of inflation and its range of signatures, as well as extensive contributions to string theory and gravitational physics.Her early work included control of tachyon condensation in string theory and resulting resolution of some spacetime singularities (with Joseph Polchinski and others). Other significant research contributions include the construction of the first models of dark energy in string theory, some basic extensions of the AdS/CFT correspondence to more realistic field theories (with Shamit Kachru), as well as the discovery of a predictive new mechanism for cosmic inflation involving D-brane dynamics (with David Tong) which helped motivate more systematic analyses of primordial non-Gaussianity.

Silverstein is a professor of physics at Stanford University and director of the Modern Inflationary Cosmology collaboration within the Simons Foundation Origins of the Universe initiative.

• A.B., Physics, Harvard University, 1992
• Ph.D., Physics, Princeton University, 1996

• Postdoctoral Associate, Rutgers University, 1996–1997
• Assistant Professor, SLAC, Stanford, 1997–2001
• Associate Professor, SLAC and Stanford Physics Department, Stanford, 2001–2006
• Professor, SLAC and Stanford Physics Department, Stanford, 2006–2016
• Professor, Stanford Physics Department, Stanford, 2006–Present
• Professor, University of California Physics Department

• MacArthur Fellow, 1999
• DOE Outstanding Junior Investigator, 1999–2001
• Sloan Fellowship, 1999–2003
• Bergmann Memorial Award, 2000
• APS Fellow, 2016 "For fundamental contributions to quantum gravity and early universe cosmology."
• Simons Investigator, 2017

Silverstein's primary research areas include cosmic inflation, namely the creation of predictive and testable new mechanisms which have enabled systematic understanding of the process and the role of ultraviolet-sensitive qualities in observational cosmology (including string-theoretic versions of large field inflation and novel mechanisms involving inflation interactions); implications of long-range interactions in string theory for black hole physics; and mechanism development for breaking super-symmetry and stabilising the extra dimensions of string theory

Raised in Spokane, Washington, Silverstein is the daughter of Harry S. and Lorinda Knight Silverstein and graduated from Lewis and Clark High School. Her father is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Washington State University in Pullman.

Silverstein is married to fellow string theorist Shamit Kachru; both were doctoral students of Edward Witten.