Gregory Gabadadze

Gregory Gabadadze is a Georgian theoretical physicist specializing in the field of gravity. He holds the position of Professor of Physics at New York University, where he also serves as the Dean for Science. In his previous roles at NYU, Gabadadze was the Chair of the Department of Physics and the Director of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics.

Gregory Gabadadze
გრიგოლ (გიგა) გაბადაძე
Born	Georgia
Alma mater	Tbilisi State University (BS) Moscow State University (MS) Rutgers University (PhD)
Known for	dRGT theory DGP model
Awards	NASA Beyond Einstein Foundation Science Award (2005)
Scientific career
Fields	Theoretical physics
Institutions	New York University
Doctoral advisor	Glennys Farrar
Doctoral students	Rachel Rosen

Gabadadze's work has significantly contributed to the understanding of gravitational theories, including the development of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati brane-world model and the de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) theory of massive gravity.

Early life and education

Gregory Gabadadze completed his undergraduate studies at Tbilisi State University in Tbilisi. He then earned a master's degree from Moscow State University, followed by a PhD from Rutgers University, where he conducted his research under the supervision of Glennys Farrar.

Research and career

Gabadadze has held a variety of positions in academia and research throughout his career. He began at New York University (NYU) as a Research Scientist in the Department of Physics from 1998 to 2000. During this period, in 2000, he collaborated with Gia Dvali and Massimo Porrati to propose the DGP model of gravity. This model, which assumes the existence of a 4+1-dimensional Minkowski space with a 3+1-dimensional space embedded within it, was notable for its two-part action involving both 4-D and 5-D Einstein–Hilbert actions and was proposed to explain cosmic acceleration without the need for a small but non-zero vacuum energy density.

Following his work on the DGP model, Gabadadze became a Research Associate at the W.I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute at the University of Minnesota, a position he held from 2000 to 2002. He then spent a year as a Fellow in the Theory Division at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland (2002 – 2003) before returning to NYU as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics from 2003 to 2007. He was then promoted to Associate Professor, serving in this role from 2007 to 2011.

In 2008, Gabadadze took on the role of Director of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics in the Department of Physics at NYU, a position he held until 2013, with a sabbatical in the 2011/2012 academic year. During his directorship, in 2010, he co-developed a nonlinear theory of massive graviton, known as the "de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) theory," with de Rham and Andrew J. Tolley. This theory, which is theoretically consistent and ghost-free, became a significant contribution to the field of massive gravity.

In 2011, Gabadadze was appointed as a Professor in the Department of Physics at NYU. Beyond his roles at NYU, since 2017, he has been serving as the Associate Director for Physics in the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Division at The Simons Foundation. He also served as the Chair of the Department of Physics at NYU from 2013 to 2019.

In 2019, Gabadadze was named the Divisional Dean for Science in the Faculty of Arts and Science at NYU, and in 2021, he expanded his administrative roles by becoming the Vice Dean for Research in Arts and Science at NYU.

Awards, grants, and fellowships

• 2022-2025: NSF Theory Grant (co-PI)
• 2017-2021: Simons Foundation (Lead PI): Origins of the Universe
• 2012-2016: NASA Theory Grant (PI)
• 2005-2009: NASA Beyond Einstein Foundation Science Award
• 1994-1995: George Soros Fellowship
• 1994: Lomonosov Fellowship
• 1994: Artsimovich Fellowship
• 1993: Outstanding Junior Investigator Fellowship

Controversy Over Faculty Dismissal

In 2022, Gabadadze controversially fired NYU chemistry professor Maitland Jones Jr. after students complained that Jones's organic chemistry class was arbitrarily graded and too hard. Jones's colleagues objected that Gabadadze set "a precedent, completely lacking in due process, that could undermine faculty freedoms and correspondingly enfeeble proven pedagogic practices.” In the same article, NYU spokesman John Beckman noted Jones's course evaluations “were by far the worst, not only among members of the chemistry department, but among all the university’s undergraduate science courses" and that the professor had received many student complaints about his “dismissiveness, unresponsiveness, condescension and opacity about grading.”

Selected publications

A list of Gabadadze's publications can be found on arXiv and INSPIRE-HEP

Scholarly articles

• "4-D gravity on a brane in 5-D Minkowski space", G.R. Dvali, Gregory Gabadadze, Massimo Porrati Published in Phys.Lett. B485 (2000) 208-214 doi:10.1016/S0370-2693(00)00669-9 e-Print: hep-th/0005016
• "Generalization of the Fierz-Pauli Action", Claudia de Rham, Gregory Gabadadze Published in Phys. Rev. D82 (2010) 044020 doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.82.044020 e-Print: arXiv:1007.0443 [hep-th]
• "Resummation of Massive Gravity" Claudia de Rham, Gregory Gabadadze, Andrew J. Tolley. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 (2011) 231101 doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.231101 e-Print: arXiv:1011.1232 [hep-th]