Peter LEVAI

Director General of the Wigner Research Centre for Physics (Wigner RCP), Budapest, Hungary
Born: 8 August 1962, Miskolc, Hungary, Hungarian Nationality

• Ordinary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS)2016
• Corresponding Member of the HAS2010
• Habilitation (Dr.habil.) in the Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary)2000
• Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) of the HAS1999
• Habilitation (Cand.Sc.) [PhD] of the HAS on Nuclear Physics1992
• Dr.Rer.Nat. of the Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Science, Nuclear Physics1989
• Diploma (MSc.) of the Eötvös Loránd University on Physics1986

• MTA KFKI RMKI/Wigner RCP (change in name)
  Research Professor
  2011-
• Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
  Private Associate Professor
  2001-
• Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
  Visiting Scientist
  2001-2002
• Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
  Visiting Scientist
  1999-2001
• MTA KFKI RMKI, Budapest
  Scientific Advisor
  1999-2010
• MTA KFKI RMKI
  Senior Research Fellow
  1994-1999
• Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA
  Research Associate
  1991-1992
• Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
  Research Associate
  1990-1991
• MTA KFKI RMKI, Budapest
  Research Fellow
  1989-1993
• HAS, MTA KFKI RMKI, Budapest
  Scholar for Ph.D.
  1986-1989

• Member of the Infrastructure Committee of the NRDI Office, Budapest
  2020-
• Wigner RCP Director General
  2012-
• Member of the President Committee of HAS, Budapest
  2014-2018
• Member of the Infrastructure Committee of HAS, Budapest
  2013-2020
• Deputy Director of the MTA KFKI RMKI, Budapest
  2010-2011
• Team leader of the Hungarian ALICE group at CERN LHC
  2005-2012
• Head of the Theoretical Phys. Dept., MTA KFKI RMKI, Budapest
  2003-2010

• Vice-President of the CERN Council
  2019-2022
• Scientific Advisor to the Hungarian CERN Delegation
  Since 2011
• Scientific Advisor to the Hungarian ESFRI Delegation
  Since 2010
• Member of the ECFA Committee
  2012-2020
• Member of the EPS ACC (Action Committee for Conferences)
  2005-2010
• Member of the EPS HEP Board
  1999-2010

• Officer’s Cross of the Civil Division of the Hungarian Order of Merit
  2025
• Member of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences (ASAE)
  2020
• PIFI Distinguished Scientist of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
  Beijing
  2020
• Janos Neumann Prize of the Ministry of National Development
  Hungary
  2014
• Member of the Academia Europeae (AE)
  2012
• Knight Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic
  Hungary
  2007
• International Scholar Award of Phi-Beta-Delta Society
  USA
  2006
• Academy Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  Budapest
  2003
• Physics Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  Budapest
  2001
• Novobátzky Prize of the Eötvös Loránd Physical Society
  Budapest
  2001

[MTMT: 1000 papers, 58 800 citations, h-index: 120]

• Theoretical studies

  Since 1986 I have published more than 100 papers on theoretical high energy physics, focusing on the production of quark-gluon plasma (QGP), the new phase of the strongly interacting nuclear matter. I investigated the properties of QGP and its hadronization by field theoretical and phenomenological models. I used relativistic hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, statistical physics, I developed new resummation methods in QCD for study jet energy loss in hot dense deconfined matter. My most cited papers: M. Gyulassy, P. Lévai, I. Vitev: Non-Abelian energy loss at finite opacity, Phys. Rev. Letters 85 (2000) 5535. [537 citations]; Reaction operator approach to non-Abelian energy loss, Nucl. Phys. B594 (2001) 371. [763 citations]; Total citation on theoretical papers: cca. 7000 citations

• Member of the SPS NA49 Collaboration [1994-2010]

  I participated in data analysis and the study of hadronic transverse momentum spectra, investigating thermal, flow and correlation effects, searching for QGP signatures in data on strange and charm particle production. (85 papers, cca. 6500 citations)

• Member of the LHC ALICE Collaboration [Since 2002]

  I participated in the construction of ALICE detector and the installation of the HMPID subdetector (organizing the activity of the Hungarian group as team leader between 2005-2012); participated in the upgrade project VHMPID; data analysis related to collective effects, jet energy loss and particle correlations. (300 papers, cca. 33000 citations)

• Member of the CERN FCC Collaboration [Since 2017]

  Participation in the creation of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, as a member of the Hungarian FCC Group.

• Further experimental activities

  I have supervised the built-up of the Hungarian Group for CERN AWAKE Collaboration on laser-plasma accelerator, the SPOTTING Collaboration with CERN KT for visualization of large data bases, participated in the activity of the HEPTECH Collaboration on technology transfer. Recently we develop the ALICE Analysing Facility for next generation of computing facilities at Wigner Datacenter, which served as CERN Tier-0 center between 2013-2020.

• Educational activities

  I am teaching high energy nuclear physics at Eötvös Loránd University from 1989. I have accomplished my habilitation in 2000 and received the title of “private docent”. During last 20 years 8 students received MSc and 5 students received PhD degree under my supervision on topics related to high energy nuclear physics and quark-gluon plasma research. I give outreach talks regularly.