Professor of Theoretical Physics
California Institute of Technology
Kellogg Radiation Laboratory
Mail Code 106-38
Pasadena, California 91125
Telephone: 626-395-4586
Email: steve.koonin@uk.bp.com
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Dr. Steven E. Koonin Professor of Theoretical Physics California Institute of Technology Telephone: 626-395-4586 Email: steve.koonin@uk.bp.com
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Dr. Steven Koonin was born in Brooklyn, New York and educated at the California Institute of Technology, receiving a B.S. in physics in 1972, and at MIT, where he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1975. He then joined the Caltech faculty in 1975, became full professor in 1981, serving as Chairman of the Faculty from 1989-1991. Professor Koonin held the position of Provost of Caltech from 1995 to 2004.
Early in his career, he was a research fellow at the Niels Bohr Institute from 1976-77 and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow from 1977-79. In 1975-76 he received the Caltech Associated Students Teaching Award, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist Award in 1985. In 1999 he received the prestigious E.O. Lawrence Award in Physics from the Department of Energy.
Koonin is a member of the Council for Foreign Relations and has served on a number of advisory committees for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense and its various national laboratories. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research interests include theoretical nuclear, many-body, and computational physics, nuclear astrophysics, and global environmental science.
Koonin is currently on a leave of absence from his faculty position as professor of theoretical physics to serve as Chief Scientist of BP in London. See Caltech press release, "Caltech Provost to Take Corporation Position."