Nima Arkani-Hamed, a physicist in his mid-30's, is experimenting with physics that may set the world on its head. Born to Iranian parents from Houston, Arkani-Hamed sits on the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the same place Einstein served.

Nima Arkani-Hamed is considered a leading thinker in the field of particle physics and later this year his ideas will be tested at the world's most powerful particle accelerator in Switzerland. He has had a hand in explaining how the world can operate according to Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes the universe on a very large scale, and at the same time follow quantum mechanics, laws that describe the universe on a scale smaller than the eye can see.

Some of the key mysteries that stem from these clashing theories include why gravity is so weak, and why the universe is so large. Nima Arkani-Hamed believes in the string theory which says the world is made of extremely small vibrating loops called strings. His hopes are that his experiment in August will allow them to directly observe these strings.

Source: CNN, Wikipedia