Background and career
Brian Randolph Greene (born February 9, 1963) is an American physicist known for his research on string theory. He is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its center for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival, which he co-founded in 2008. Greene co-discovered mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi–Yau manifolds. He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, and the conifold transition, a more severe transformation of space, showing that topology can smoothly change in string theory. His books The Elegant Universe (1999), The Fabric of the Cosmos (2004), The Hidden Reality (2011), and Until the End of Time (2020) were all top 10 New York Times bestsellers. Greene hosted two Emmy and Peabody Award Winning NOVA miniseries based on his books. He also appeared on The Big Bang Theory episode "The Herb Garden Germination", as well as in the films Frequency and The Last Mimzy. From 2015 to 2020, he served on the board of overseers of Harvard University, and is currently a member of the board of sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Greene was born in New York City of Jewish background. His father, Alan Greene, was a one-time vaudeville performer and high school dropout who later worked as a voice coach and composer. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School in 1980, where he was classmates with fellow physicist and science popularizer Lisa Randall, Greene studied physics at Harvard University, graduating in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude. He then did doctoral study in theoretical physics at Magdalen College, Oxford, under Graham Ross and James Binney. He received a Doctor of Philosophy in 1987 with a thesis entitled "Superstrings: topology, geometry and phenomenology and astrophysical implications of supersymmetric models". While at Oxford, Greene also studied piano with the concert pianist Jack Gibbons.
Greene joined the physics faculty of Cornell University in 1990, received tenure in 1993, and was appointed to a full professorship in 1995. The following year, he joined the faculty of Columbia University as a full professor. At Columbia, Greene is director of the university's center for theoretical physics and is leading a research program at the intersection of string theory, mathematical physics, and cosmology.
Greene's area of research is string theory, a candidate for a theory of quantum gravity. He is known for his contribution to the understanding of the different shapes the curled-up dimensions of string theory can take. The most important of these shapes are so-called Calabi–Yau manifolds; when the extra dimensions take on those particular forms, physics in three dimensions exhibits an abstract symmetry known as supersymmetry. Greene co-discovered a particular class of symmetry relating two different Calabi–Yau manifolds, known as mirror symmetry and is known for his research on the flop-transition, a mild form of topology change, and also the conifold transition, a more severe transformation of space, showing that topology in string theory can change smoothly. Greene has also studied string cosmology, especially the imprints of trans-Planckian physics on the cosmic microwave background, and brane-gas cosmologies that could explain why the space around us has three large dimensions. His work has expanded on the suggestion of a black hole electron, namely that a black hole can continuously transform into a particle such as an electron. Currently, Greene is studying non-simply connected and non-orientable compactifications and has showed that in some of these contexts, signals can have an effective speed greater than that of light, and even travel back in time.
Greene is well known to a wider audience for his work on popularizing theoretical physics, in particular string theory and the search for a unified theory of physics. His first book, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, published in 1999 and a New York Times Best Seller, is a popularization of superstring theory and M-theory. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, and winner of The Aventis Prizes for Science Books in 2000. Greene's second book, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (2004), a New York Times Best Seller, is about space, time, and the nature of the universe. Aspects covered in this book include non-local particle entanglement as it relates to special relativity and basic explanations of string theory. It is an examination of the very nature of matter and reality, covering such topics as spacetime and cosmology, origins and unification, and including an exploration into reality and the imagination. Greene's third book, The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, published in January 2011, was a New York Times Best Seller and deals in greater depth with multiple universes, or, as they are sometimes referred to collectively, the multiverse. Greene's most recent book, Until the End of Time: Mind Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe (2020), was a New York Times Best Seller and explores the universe's evolution and likely end, as well as the emergence of life and consciousness, bridging cosmological and existentialist thought.
Greene's first book, The Elegant Universe, was adapted into a three-part PBS television special of the same name, hosted and narrated by Greene, which won a 2003 Peabody Award. Greene's second book, The Fabric of the Cosmos, was adapted into a four-part PBS television special of the same name, hosted and narrated by Greene, which premiered in 2011 and was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards. Greene was also featured in ABC's Nightline in Primetime: Brave New World series.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
