Herman Verlinde is the Class of 1909 Professor of Physics at Princeton University and the current chair of the Department of Physics. He earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and taught physics at the University of Amsterdam from 1995 to 1998. His main research field is string theory and he studies the theory in all its many aspects: its mathematical foundations and non-perturbative formulations, as well as its applications to particle physics, gauge theory, black hole physics, and cosmology. The focus of his most recent research is the quantum theory of black hole horizons, and its connection to quantum information theory and entanglement. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the IBM Einstein Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton, the PIONIER-Fellowship of the Netherlands Organization of Science, the Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.