U of T physics graduate student receives major national funding award
The inaugural John Stewart Bell Prize
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In Memoriam: Lev Kofman
June 17, 1957 - November 12, 2009
Lev Kofman
Professor Lev Kofman, husband of Anna, father of Sergei 13 and Maria 15, brother of Svetlana, died in the early morning of November 12, 2009 from cancer.
He bravely kept the physics going strong throughout his illness, characteristic of Lev. His scientific outpourings and influence will transcend this passage. He made fundamental contributions to Lambda cosmology and dark energy, structure in the cosmic web, inflationary theory, its Gaussian and non-Gaussian aspects, and gravitational waves. He initiated and developed the theory of preheating, showing how all matter could arise from a coherent vacuum energy at the end of inflation, his cosmic baby. And much more besides. He was the quintessential leader, for CITA and CIFAR as a whole, and for the vibrant early universe group he established, providing inspirational guidance to a generation of young researchers.
He felt the physics to his very core. Beyond this, it is the indomitable, fun-loving, deeply philosophical spirit, a gourmand of life in all its manifestations that we will miss so much.