Melanie Becker

Becker was originally from Germany and grew up in Malaga. She graduated from Instituto Nacional de Enseñanza Mixto de Torremolinos in 1987.[1] She received her Diplom from the University of Bonn in 1991 working with Werner Nahm. She then worked with Luis Álvarez-Gaumé at the particle accelerator at CERN.[2] Following her Ph.D. she was in California first as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara and then at the California Institute of Technology as a research fellow working with John H. Schwarz. In 2000 she moved to the University of Maryland as an assistant professor, and then in 2005 she moved to Texas A&M University in 2005 where she became a tenured professor in the physics department.[2]

Becker's research centered on the study of gravity and similar theories, with a particulate interest in string theory, M-theory, and quantum gravity. Becker's work included developing models for superstring compactification and, working with her sister Katrin Becker, she developed one for the Kaluza–Klein theory.[3]

In 2006 Becker, her sister Katrin, and John Schwartz published a graduate-level textbook on string theory and M-theory.[4]

• Becker, Katrin; Becker, Melanie; Schwarz, John H. (2006). String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521860695.

• Becker, Katrin; Becker, Melanie; Strorninger, Andrew (1995-12-04). "Fivebranes, membranes and non-perturbative string theory". Nuclear Physics B. 456 (1): 130–152. arXiv:hep-th/9507158. Bibcode:1995NuPhB.456..130B. doi:10.1016/0550-3213(95)00487-1. ISSN 0550-3213. S2CID 14043557.
• Becker, Katrin; Becker, Melanie (1996-10-07). "M-theory on eight-manifolds". Nuclear Physics B. 477 (1): 155–167. arXiv:hep-th/9605053. Bibcode:1996NuPhB.477..155B. doi:10.1016/0550-3213(96)00367-7. ISSN 0550-3213. S2CID 15709187.
• Becker, Katrin; Becker, Melanie; Polchinski, Joseph; Tseytlin, Arkady (1997-09-15). "Higher order graviton scattering in M ( atrix ) theory". Physical Review D. 56 (6): R3174–R3178. arXiv:hep-th/9706072. Bibcode:1997PhRvD..56.3174B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.56.R3174. ISSN 0556-2821. S2CID 17353629.
• Becker, Katrin; Becker, Melanie; Dasgupta, Keshav; Green, Paul S (2003-04-03). "Compactifications of heterotic theory on non-Kähler complex manifolds, I". Journal of High Energy Physics. 2003 (4): 007. arXiv:hep-th/0301161. Bibcode:2003JHEP...04..007B. doi:10.1088/1126-6708/2003/04/007. ISSN 1029-8479. S2CID 6834444.
• Becker, Melanie; Leblond, Louis; Shandera, Sarah (2007-12-28). "Inflation from wrapped branes". Physical Review D. 76 (12): 123516. arXiv:0709.1170. Bibcode:2007PhRvD..76l3516B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.76.123516. ISSN 1550-7998. S2CID 119276463.

In 2001 Becker received a fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.[2] In 2005 she received the Edward, Frances and Shirley B. Daniels fellowship from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.[2]

Melanie Becker was born to Ingrid and Karl-Hans Becker in Ahaus, Germany on August 12, 1966. She grew up in Malaga with her younger sister Katrin Becker. Becker and her younger sister were recruited to Texas A&M in 2005 as part of a faculty reinvestment program.[5] Melanie Becker died on March 13, 2020 at the age of 53 after a year-long fight with cancer. She is survived by her younger sister Katrin Becker, mother Ingrid Becker, and uncle Wolfgang Schwarz.[1][6] [7]