Michio Kaku

Professor Michio Kaku (born January 24, 1947 in the United States) is a Japanese American theoretical physicist, tenured professor, and co-creator of string field theory, a branch of String Theory. Prof Kaku received a BS (summa cum laude) from Harvard University in 1968 where he was first in his physics class. He went on to the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and received a PhD in 1972. In 1973 he held a lectureship at Princeton University.

In addition to holding the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at City College of New York, he has taught there for more than 25 years. Presently, he is engaged in working on Einstein's "Theory of Everything," seeking to unify the four fundamental forces of the universe: the strong force, the weak force, gravity and electromagnetism. Additionally, he has been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, as well as at New York University.

Prof Kaku is the author of several scholarly, PhD-level textbooks and has had more than 70 articles published in physics journals covering topics such as superstring theory, supergravity, supersymmetry, and hadronic physics. Based on the number of citations his work has received in the academic literature, Kaku has an h-index of 22, which is respectable but significantly below that of top-tier theoretical physicists.

He is, however, also known as an author of popular science books, including the best-sellers Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century, Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension, and Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos, which has been shortlisted for the 2006 Aventis Prize.

WBAI, a Pacifica radio station in New York City airs a weekly (syndicated) radio show featuring Prof Kaku related to science and ecology. Additionally, a podcast is available of the show at http://archive.wbai.org

Prof Kaku has become a popular figure in mainstream media, due to his knowledge, as well as his accesible approach to explaining complex physics, quantum mechanics and other topics from a layperson's point of view. His frequent guest spots on Coast to Coast AM and similar programs have earned him a mixed reputation as both a spokesman for successfully explaining theoretical physics, as well as something of a "fringe" scientist (due to the audience of Coast to Coast AM, for example).

While his books largely stay within the realm of mainstream theoretical physics, he takes a more liberal approach to public speaking. At such events, he has discussed topics ranging from the Kardashev scale to more esoteric subjects such as wormholes and time travel.

Prof Kaku's interests aren't completely confined to science. He is a noted researcher of the Kennedy assassination and US government covert operations.

His intellect was observed early on. During high school, Kaku built a homemade betatron.

Books
Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe
Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time
Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century
Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension
Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos
Introduction to Superstrings and M-Theory
Strings, Conformal Fields, and M-Theory
Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction
Strings, Conformal fields, and Topology: An introduction
A Journey Through the Tenth Dimension
Nuclear Power: Both Sides
To Win a Nuclear War: The Pentagon's Secret War Plans

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