28 Facts About Carlos Frenk

Carlos Frenk joined the Durham University Department of Physics in 1986 and since 2001 has served as the Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham University.

Carlos Frenk is particularly notable for his work around galaxy formation, including his use of complex computer simulations to test theories on the origins and evolution of the universe, thus helping to resolve disputes among theoretical models.

Carlos Frenk was born in Mexico City, Mexico and is the eldest son of six siblings.

Carlos Frenk studied engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico but later changed to Theoretical Physics, earning his undergraduate degree in 1976.

Carlos Frenk gained the highest marks in his year, and so was awarded the Gabino Barreda Medal.

Carlos Frenk visited Italy, where he attended a guest lecture by Martin Rees, then a Professor at the University of Cambridge.

The idea of dark matter was still "extremely speculative" at this point, but Carlos Frenk concluded that the galaxy was surrounded with "embedded" dark matter.

Carlos Frenk was awarded his PhD in astronomy in 1981.

At Cambridge, Carlos Frenk decided to shift his research focus to cosmology because he felt there was still plenty of "exciting problems" within this field left to be solved; he thought particle physics was "moving rather slowly" and, despite help from professors, could not identify a suitable fundamental physics project for doctoral research that engaged his interest.

Carlos Frenk met future collaborator Simon White for the first time at Cambridge.

White, already a post-doc, acted as what Carlos Frenk later called his "unofficial supervisor".

Carlos Frenk was based in Berkeley from 1981 to 1983, having been invited here by Marc Davis, an astronomer who had recently left Harvard.

Carlos Frenk was then based in Santa Barbara from 1983 to 1984.

Carlos Frenk subsequently returned to the United Kingdom, where he was a postdoc at Sussex University from 1984 to 1985.

In 1986, Carlos Frenk was appointed Lecturer at Durham University, having been recruited by Richard Ellis.

Carlos Frenk was promoted to Reader in 1991 and then made full Professor in 1993.

Carlos Frenk became the Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology upon its establishment in 2001.

Carlos Frenk held this post until 2020, at which point he was succeeded by Durham colleague Shaun Cole.

In 2005, as a member of the Virgo Consortium, Carlos Frenk was part of a team that produced the Millennium Run, which was, at the time, the largest and most realistic cosmological N-body simulation ever.

Carlos Frenk joked that he and his colleagues at the ICC had "filing cabinets" full of failed universes.

In 2020, Carlos Frenk was named a Clarivate Citation Laureate for his highly-cited research, which was judged to be of "Nobel Class".

Carlos Frenk is married to Dr Susan Carlos Frenk, a lecturer in Spanish and Latin American literature and current Principal of St Aidan's College.

Carlos Frenk has an interest in architecture, which was inspired by his experience studying at the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Carlos Frenk was unimpressed with the state of academic buildings when he first moved to Britain, describing them as "dark, claustrophobic and in a state of disrepair" and has taken an active role in the design process of new buildings at Durham University.

Carlos Frenk was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004.

Carlos Frenk was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to cosmology and the public dissemination of basic science.

Carlos Frenk received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2014.

Carlos Frenk was interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs, first broadcast in 2018.