URL: https://v1.desy.de/site_www-desy/content/about_desy/lead_scientists/rafael_porto/index_eng.html
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Rafael Porto
Theoretical astroparticle physics, cosmology, gravitational waves
Rafael Porto became Lead Scientist in the Astroparticle Physics Division at DESY in 2020. His multidisciplinary research programme lies at the interface between astroparticle physics, cosmology and gravitational-wave science. He focuses on using novel tools and ideas from particle physics to tackle the two-body problem in gravity, the nature of compact objects, the dynamics of large-scale structures and the physics of the early universe. In particular, his work will enable the study of black holes in Einstein’s theory of gravity and of the properties of nuclear matter under unique conditions in neutron stars, as well as searches for physics beyond the Standard Model through gravitational-wave precision data with present and future detectors (such as the Einstein Telescope).
Rafael Porto graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in the USA in 2007 with a PhD in physics. He then went on to postdoctoral positions at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara and afterwards a joint appointment between the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and Columbia University, USA. Before coming to DESY – first as a senior staff scientist in 2019 – he was a faculty member and Simons/FAPESP Young Investigator at the ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Academic career
| since 2020 | Lead Scientist at DESY |
| since 2020 | Principal Investigator, Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe, University of Hamburg |
| 2019-2020 | Staff Scientist, DESY |
| since 2019 | ERC ConsolidatorGrant: “Precision Gravity: From the LHC to LISA” |
| 2015-2020 | Associate Staff Scientist, ICTP Trieste, Italy |
| 2015-2018 | Simons-Foundation/FAPESP Young Investigator, South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR), Brazil |
| 2015-2018 | Faculty Member, ICTP-SAIFR, Brazil |
| 2010-2013 | Member, Institute for Advanced Study, USA |
| 2010-2013 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University, USA |
| 2007-2010 | Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Santa Barbara and Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, USA |
| 2003-2007 | PhD in Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, USA |
| 2003 | Licenciatura (BSc) & Master (MSc) en Física, Universidad de la República, Uruguay |
