I am a theoretical particle physicist who fuses techniques from quantum field theory and machine learning to address outstanding questions in fundamental physics. My current research is focused on maximizing the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider through new theoretical frameworks and novel data analysis techniques. I joined the MIT Physics Department in 2010, and I am currently a Professor in the Center for Theoretical Physics. In 2020, I became the inaugural Director of the NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions.
Personal Page Press Information Full CV MIT Physics Page Wikipedia
Education
- Harvard University, Ph.D. Physics, 2006
- Brown University, Sc.B. Math/Physics, 2002
Key Positions
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Professor of Physics, 2021 - Present
- Associate Professor of Physics, 2015 - 2021 (tenured in 2017)
- Assistant Professor of Physics, 2010 - 2015
- NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions
- Director, 2020 - Present
- University of California, Berkeley
- Miller Research Fellow, 2006 - 2009
Selected Awards
- APS Fellow, American Physical Society, 2022
- Simons Investigator in Physics, Simons Foundation, 2022
- Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award, MIT, 2016
- Sloan Research Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 2013
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, White House, 2012
- Early Career Research Award, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, 2011 - 2016
Selected Publications
Inspire arXiv ORCID Google Scholar
- Non-Gaussianities in Collider Energy Flux
Hao Chen, Ian Moult, Jesse Thaler, and Hua Xing Zhu, JHEP 2022 - The Metric Space of Collider Events
Patrick T. Komiske, Eric M. Metodiev, and Jesse Thaler, PRL 2019 - Exposing the QCD Splitting Function with CMS Open Data
Andrew Larkoski, Simone Marzani, Jesse Thaler, Aashish Tripathee, and Wei Xue, PRL 2017 - Broadband and Resonant Approaches to Axion Dark Matter Detection
Yonatan Kahn, Benjamin R. Safdi, and Jesse Thaler, PRL 2016 - Identifying Boosted Objects with N-subjettiness
Jesse Thaler and Ken Van Tilburg, JHEP 2011
In the News
Profiles and Highlights
- “Jesse Thaler: Then and Now / 2011 Early Career Award Winner ”, DOE News, December 2021
- “Using AI to Drill Down in Physics”, ACM News, July 2021
- “Can a Computer Devise a Theory of Everything?”, New York Times, November 2020
- “NSF advances artificial intelligence research with new nationwide institutes”, NSF News, August 2020
- “National Science Foundation awards $20M to launch artificial-intelligence institute”, Harvard Gazette, August 2020
- “National Science Foundation announces MIT-led Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions”, MIT News, August 2020
- “A new metric to capture the similarity between collider events”, Phys.org, August 2019
- “MIT physicists: Social networks could hold the key to finding new particles”, Ars Technica, July 2019
- “Seeking new physics, scientists borrow from social networks”, MIT News, July 2019
- “Miracles when you use the right metric”, Collider Blog, February 2019
- “Center for Theoretical Physics celebrates 50 years”, MIT News, March 2018
- “Jesse Thaler: Seeking the fundamental nature of matter”, MIT News, November 2017
- “Chalkboard theorist”, MIT Spotlight, November 2017
- “First open-access data from large collider confirm subatomic particle patterns”, MIT Newsletter, September 2017
- “Team simulates a magnetar to seek dark matter particle”, MIT Newsletter, October 2016
- “Miller Fellow Focus: Jesse Thaler”, Miller Institute Newsletter, Fall 2007
Awards and Honors
- APS Fellow: “Seven from MIT named American Physical Society Fellows for 2022”, MIT News, October 2022
- Simons Investigator: “Three MIT faculty members named 2022 Simons Investigators”, MIT News, June 2022
- DOE QuantISED: “Center for Theoretical Physics professors earn DOE Quantum Information Science Awards”, MIT News, Oxtober 2018
- Promotion: “School of Science professors granted tenure”, MIT News, June 2017
- Edgerton Award: “Biobarrier explorer and dark matter theorist win MIT’s prestigious junior faculty award”, MIT News, April 2016
- Sloan Fellowship: “Six MIT researchers win Sloan Research Fellowships”, MIT News, February 2013
- PECASE Award: “Five MIT researchers win presidential early career honors”, MIT News, July 2012
- DOE Early Career Award: “Five from MIT receive DoE early career research grants”, MIT News, June 2011
Quotations and Perspectives
- “Will artificial intelligence ever discover new laws of physics?”, New Scientist, November 2022
- “Machine Learning Shaking Up Hard Sciences, Too”, IEEE Spectrum, November 2022
We’d like to have a machine learn to think more like a physicist, but we also just need to learn how to think a little bit more like a machine.
- “A Hint of Dark Matter Sends Physicists Looking to the Skies”, Quanta Magazine, October 2021
- “Advancing AI theory with a first-principles understanding of deep neural networks”, Facebook AI, June 2021
- “Faculty discuss Flexible P/NR policy”, The Tech, March 2020
Our goal was to come up with a grading policy that was simple, flexible, and discipline agnostic, with mechanisms to ensure that students would always be incentivized to engage in all of their classes.
- “The plot thickens for a hypothetical X17 particle”, Phys.org, November 2019
- “With open data, scientists share their work”, Symmetry Magazine, August 2019
- “CMS releases open data for Machine Learning”, CERN News, July 2019
- “Scientists meet at Fermilab to discuss machine learning for jet physics”, Fermilab News, November 2018
- “Lighting the way for dark matter”, PNAS, October 2017
- “In the Dark about Dark Matter”, Scientific American, October 2016
Do we live in a universe where each discovery leads to deeper, more fundamental insights, or do we live in one where some parts have rhyme and reason, but others don’t?
- “Has a Hungarian physics lab found a fifth force of nature?”, Nature, May 2016
- “What Physicists Are Looking for Now That They’ve Found the Higgs Boson”, Bloomberg, April 2015
- “How Three Guys With $10K and Decades-Old Data Almost Found the Higgs Boson First”, Wired Magazine, January 2015
Figuring out what happened in a collider is like trying to figure out what your dog ate at the park yesterday. You can find out, but you have to sort through a lot of shit to do it.
- ”‘Particle Fever’ documentary follows mystery of Higgs boson”, Portsmouth Herald, May 2014
- “Connecting the visible universe with dark matter”, Symmetry Magazine, November 2013
- “MIT’s Jesse Thaler Visits MHS”, Mustang News, October 2012
Here’s the universe, here’s pencil and paper, now go and find something new.
Group Members in the News
- Lina Necib: “Astroparticle Physicist Wins 2023 Valley Prize for Work on Dark Matter”, APS News, October 2022
- Cari Cesarotti: “With open data, scientists share their work”, Symmetry Magazine, August 2019
- Radha Mastandrea: “A passionate advocate for open data”, MIT News, October 2018
- Radha Mastandrea: “Paying it forward: Fellowship boosts women in physics”, MIT News, August 2018
- Kevin Zhou: “Seeking new stories about the physical world”, MIT News, April 2017
- Kevin Zhou: “Four MIT students named 2017 Marshall Scholars”, MIT News, November 2016