Matilde Marcolli was born in Italy in 1969. She graduated with a Laurea in Physics from the University of Milano in 1993, followed by a MSc in Mathematics at the University of Chicago in 1994 and a PhD in Mathematics, also from the University of Chicago, in 1997. She subsequently worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the years 1997-2000, at the Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics and at Florida State University, in the years 2000-2008. Currently she is Professor of Mathematics at the California Institute of Technology. Prizes and awards include the Heinz Maier Leibnitz Prize (2001) and the Sofja Kovalevskaya Award (2001). Main cultural interests: Mathematical Physics, Anarchy and Socialism, Ancient Greek Literature, Philosophy, 20th century classical music, Surrealism.