Paul Kingsley Townsend FRS (; born 3 March 1951) is a British physicist, currently a Professor of Theoretical Physics in Cambridge University's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. He is notable for his work on string theory. Education He received his PhD from Brandeis University in 1976 for his dissertation The 1/N expansion of scalar field theories . Since then he has over 140 publications. Work In 1987, , and Paul Townsend showed that there are no superstrings in eleven dimensions (the largest number of dimensions consistent with a single graviton in supergravity theories), but supermembranes. Awards and honours He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2000. References External links (lecture by Paul Townsend) (Workshop: Octonions and the Standard Model, Perimeter Institute, 2021) (Workshop: Octonions and the Standard Model, Perimeter Institute, 2021) 1951 births Living people Brandeis University alumni Cambridge mathematicians British string theorists Fellows of the Royal Society