Meet Our Physicists

Jesse Thaler

Jesse Thaler is a theoretical particle physicist who fuses techniques from quantum field theory and machine learning to address outstanding questions in fundamental physics. His current research is focused on maximizing the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) through new theoretical frameworks and novel data analysis techniques. Prof. Thaler is an expert in jets, which are collimated sprays of particles that are copiously produced at the LHC, and he studies the substructure of jets to enhance the search for new phenomena and illuminate the dynamics of gauge theories. He is also interested in new strategies to probe the nature of dark matter at the LHC and beyond, as well as in the theoretical structures and experimental signatures of supersymmetry.

Jesse Thaler joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Physics Department in 2010, and is currently a Professor in the Center for Theoretical Physics. From 2006 to 2009, he was a fellow at the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 2006, and his Sc.B. in Math/Physics from Brown University in 2002. In 2020 Thaler became the inaugural Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions.

http://jthaler.net

Positions Held

General Member, 2019 – current