Awards

Bicentennial Medal (2020)

Distinguished Professor (2006)

National Academies (2006)

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Frederic Bachman Lieber Memorial Award (1997)

About V. Alan Kostelecky

Professor Kostelecky is a theoretical physicist who studies the fundamental laws of nature. His publications span a broad range of topics in particle physics, gravitation, string theory, mathematical physics, and atomic physics. He pioneered the idea that tiny observable deviations from the laws of relativity could emerge from an underlying unified theory. His comprehensive theoretical description of relativity violations, called the Standard-Model Extension (SME), has led to many new experimental tests of Special and General Relativity. Professor Kostelecky has a doctorate in physics from Yale University and has held positions at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN).

He joined Indiana University in 1985 and served as chair of the Physics Department from 1997 to 2000. He was elected to FACET in 1996 and received the Frederic Bachman Lieber Memorial Award for distinguished teaching in 1997. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in England.

Kostelecky received the IU Bicentennial Medal in September 2020 in recognition of his distinguished contributions to Indiana University.