Claudia de Rham Photo: supplied
Claudia de Rham's a cosmologist grappling with some of the biggest questions about life, the universe and everything.
She focusses on the nature of the universe, how it was formed, and the role gravity's playing as it continues to expand.
At the centre of her work is a seemingly counter-intuitive conundrum: that the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate rather than getting slowed down by the effect of gravity (as you might expect).
It underpins an influential (and controversial) paper about so-called 'massive gravity' she co-authored in 2011.
Photo: 123rf.com
