Shankar Sachdev is an Indian-American theoretical physicist, known for his fundamental contributions to the field of condensed matter physics. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he currently holds the Herchel Smith Professorship of Physics. His research focuses on quantum phase transitions, high-temperature superconductors, and strange metals. He is known for developing theories that connect these phenomena to concepts from quantum gravity and string theory, particularly through the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, which describes the behavior of a type of black hole. His monograph, "Quantum Phase Transitions," is considered a standard reference text in the field. For his work, he has received numerous international awards, including the Dirac Medal of the ICTP and the Lars Onsager Prize of the American Physical Society, both in 2018. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.