Shahn Majid

Who is Shahn Majid?

Born in 1960 in Patna, Bihar, India Shahn Majid is an English pure mathematician and theoretical physicist, trained at Cambridge University and Harvard and since 2001 a Professor of Mathematics at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London.

Majid is best known for his pioneering work on quantum groups where he introduced one of the two main known classes of these objects and worked on all aspects of their theory. His 1995 text book Foundations of Quantum Group Theory is a standard text still used by researchers today. He also pioneered a quantum groups approach to noncommutative geometry and the use of such methods as a route to quantum gravity, leading in 1994 to the first model with testable predictions of quantum spacetime. He is also known for a range of results in algebra and category theory, notably for his theory of braided Hopf algebras and for a new view of the octonions. Although many regard Majid as a pure mathematician, his motivation and early training was in theoretical physics and pure mathematics merely represents a path in his lifelong search for the `true nature of physical reality'.

In 2008, he edited and co-authored an ambitious book of essays On Space and Time along with Alain Connes, Roger Penrose, John Polkinghorne, Michal Heller and Andrew Taylor in which the authors aim to expose the frontier of scientific research on the small and large scale structure of the Universe to a general but scientifically interested audience.