Claudia de Rham

de Rham was born in Lausanne.[1] She completed her undergraduate studies in France, receiving an engineering degree in physics at the École Polytechnique in Paris in 2000.[2] She received a master's degree in Physics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2001.[2] In 2002, de Rham moved to the UK, achieving a PhD in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge on "braneworld cosmology beyond the low-energy limit".[3] She has trained as a pilot and made it through several stages of the European Space Agency's astronaut selection process.[4]

After her PhD, de Rham moved to Montreal to join the Physics Department at McGill University.[5][6] She moved to McMaster University and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2006, where she worked in a joint postdoctoral position in Cosmology.[7] In 2010 she joined Geneva University as an Assistant Professor.[8][9] She moved to Case Western Reserve University in 2011 and became an Associate Professor there in 2016.[10][11] She joined Imperial College London in 2016. In 2016 she was awarded a £100,000 Wolfson Merit Award from the Royal Society, "Massive Gravity from Cosmology to Condensed Matter Systems".[12][13]

Her research is in the area of theoretical cosmology, and she explores gravitational models which could explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe. de Rham is recognised as a researcher at the forefront of the development of theories of massive gravity, where the particle carrier of the gravitational force, the graviton, may be massive.[14] In 2010 de Rham constructed a nonlinear theory of massive graviton, which is theoretically consistent and ghost free.[15][16] The massive gravity is now known as "de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) theory", owing to the discovery by de Rham, Gregory Gabadadze, and Andrew J. Tolley.[15] Her research helps tackle the problem of the cosmological constant, and could describe the accelerated expansion of the universe as a purely gravitational effect, where massive gravitons are responsible for the so-called dark energy.[2]

In 2015 she gave a TEDx talk titled Nature of the Graviton.[14][17] She has discussed the underrepresentation of girls in physics with the Ideas Roadshow.[18] She gives regular public lectures about theoretical cosmology.[19][20][21][22]

de Rham has been interviewed by Morgan Freeman in season 8 of Through the Wormhole.

• 2023: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[23]
• 2020: Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists: winner, UK Physical Sciences and Engineering[24][4]
• 2018: St John's College, Cambridge Adams Prize[25]
• 2018: Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists: finalist, UK Physical Sciences and Engineering[26][27]
• 2017: EPFL Alumni Award[1]
• 2017–2021: PI on Simons Foundation Award, 'Origins of the Universe' program with Rachel Rosen[28]
• 2017–2022: PI on ERC consolidator grant, for the project "Massive Gravity and Cosmology,"[29]
• 2016–2021: Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award[13]
• 2012–2013: PI on ACES Advance Opportunity Grant, for the project "Recent Developments in Massive Gravity"[30]
• 2010–2014: PI on Swiss National Foundation Professorship Grant, for the project "Challenging the cosmological paradigm"[30]

• Bimetric gravity