Philip Candelas is an outstanding physicist and mathematician who is renowned for his work on string theory, black holes and other areas of theoretical physics. He focuses on the analysis of tiny structures that make up the world around us. This work is increasing our fundamental understanding of the whole Universe.

Philip and colleagues used Calabi–Yau spaces in their research — structures used by physicists to describe parts of nature too small to see by eye. He is a world expert in this field and his work has become the foundation for subsequent advancements in the areas of theoretical physics and mathematics.

He is Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics and head of the Mathematical Physics Group at the University of Oxford. He is married to mathematics professor Xenia de la Ossa, also a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford with research interests in string theory.