Eric Zaslow

Eric Zaslow is professor of Mathematics at Northwestern University, where his research lies at the intersection of mathematical physics, geometry, and string theory. Zaslow earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College before completing his Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University in 1989. His dissertation—Kinks, Twists, and Folds: Exploring the Geometric Musculature of Quantum Field Theory—examined the geometric structures underlying quantum field theories, a theme that has defined his subsequent work. At Northwestern, Zaslow has been a central contributor to the mathematical field of mirror symmetry, which explores a profound duality between pairs of geometric spaces arising in string theory. He co-authored the influential SYZ conjecture (with Andrew Strominger and Shing-Tung Yau), which proposed a geometric mechanism for mirror symmetry involving special Lagrangian torus fibrations. This conjecture has driven substantial mathematical research and remains a cornerstone of the field. His work has also addressed the Fukaya category, sheaf theory, and the mathematical structure of branes in string compactifications.