Juan Maldacena, the Argentine Physicist Who United Gravity and the Quantum World: 'You Can Travel to the Future, but You Can't Come Back to Tell About It'

A Luminary of World Science

Since September 1998, when his work dazzled dozens of physicists at a string theory conference in Santa Barbara, California—who broke into dance and chanted his name to the tune of the 'Macarena'—Argentine physicist Juan Martín Maldacena has been a central figure in theoretical physics. Born in the Caballito neighborhood of Buenos Aires and graduated from the Instituto Balseiro in Bariloche, he is now a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and was the youngest tenured professor in Harvard's history.

His famous 'Maldacena conjecture' (AdS/CFT correspondence), formulated in 1997, managed to link two mathematically irreconcilable theories: general relativity (which explains the behavior of very large objects like stars and planets) and quantum mechanics (which describes the subatomic world). This idea, which works like a physical hologram, earned an extensive feature in The New York Times and holds the record in theoretical physics with more than 15,000 citations.

Recognition and Generosity

Maldacena was one of nine winners of the first edition of the Yuri Milner Prize for Fundamental Physics, endowed with three million dollars. Immediately after receiving it, he made a generous donation to the Instituto Balseiro for visiting professor programs, outreach, a science museum, and knowledge transfer. He also received the Lorentz (awarded every four years), Galileo, and Einstein medals. Thomson Reuters included him among the most influential scientific minds in the world.

His Visit to Argentina

A few days ago, Maldacena was in the country to participate in the 'Advances in Quantum Gravity & Strings' conference held at the Institute of Physics of La Plata, which honored the careers of his professor and thesis advisor, Gerardo Aldazabal, and Carmen Núñez. In interviews with El Destape and Infobae, the scientist of brief answers (he jokes that he 'stays quiet in all languages') shared his reflections.

Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Time Travel

Asked about black holes, he explained: 'It's a region of space-time where space and time are greatly deformed. Inside the black hole, the opposite of the Big Bang occurs: everything collapses and the curvature becomes very large, reaching like an end of time.' He highlighted that current interest is due to new observations, such as the detection of gravitational waves and the images from the Event Horizon Telescope.

On the possibility of time travel, he stated: 'You can travel to the future, but you can't come back to tell about it.' The simplest way would be to travel at very high speeds, where one wouldn't age. 'I don't know if it would have many advantages, because then you couldn't go back to tell about it,' he joked.

Regarding the Big Bang, he noted that conceptually it resembles a 'white hole' (the time reversal of a black hole), but clarified that there is no consistent theory to confirm it. 'The long-term goal is to better understand the interior of black holes and eventually the beginning of the Big Bang,' he said.

Artificial Intelligence and Education

Maldacena was optimistic about AI: 'I don't see in principle why there should be any limit. In the last four years, a lot of progress has been made. Now you can put the papers you write under AI scrutiny and it gives you suggestions. It finds small errors. The article we are writing now is based on a previous one that artificial intelligence had found.'

He also valued Argentine science: 'There are many groups doing very interesting physics. For example, Horacio Cassini in Bariloche and his collaborators are developing a vision of quantum field theory based on information theory, and they are world leaders.'

And he sent a message about education: 'I believe education is very important, whether public or private. A country needs a functioning educational system. Sometimes, because education is something whose fruits are seen many years later, it isn't invested in. But I believe that someone who wants to study can do so, and I'd like to give the message that there are opportunities in the country to study and reach the forefront of knowledge.'

Key Career Milestones

Maldacena is the father of three children (25, 23, and 19 years old), none of whom followed a scientific career. 'I bored them a bit with physics,' he confessed with humor.