Ooguri studies quantum field theory, quantum gravity, and string theory. He explores mathematical structures in these theories and uses them to develop theoretical tools for solving fundamental questions in physics. His work in physics has also inspired progress in mathematics.

Biosketch

After completing his graduate studies in two years, Ooguri became a tenured faculty member of the University of Tokyo in 1986. He was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and was appointed an assistant professor at the University of Chicago before receiving his Ph.D. in 1989. After four years as an associate professor at Kyoto University, he returned to the United States in 1994 as a full professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 2000, Ooguri moved to Caltech, where he is the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics. He also serves as the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair of the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, which is equivalent to the position of Dean of Physical Sciences. Ooguri led the establishment of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics and served as its founding director from 2014 to 2025.

At the University of Tokyo, Ooguri was a Founding Principal Investigator of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe for fifteen years and served as its Director from 2018 to 2023. In 2024, the University of Tokyo honored him with the title of University Professor.

Ooguri was a General Member of the Aspen Center for Physics for twenty years and served as Scientific Secretary, a Trustee, President, and Chair of the Board of Trustees. He was elected an Honorary Trustee for Life in 2023.

Ooguri has received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from the Emperor of Japan, the Eisenbud Prize for Mathematics and Physics from the American Mathematical Society, the Simons Investigator Award from the Simons Foundation, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Hamburg Prize and the Humboldt Research Award in Germany, the Louis Michel Chair at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) in France, the Frontiers of Science Award at the International Congress of Basic Science in China, the Benjamin Lee Distinguished Professorship in Korea, and the Nishina Memorial Prize and the Chunichi Cultural Award in Japan. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Mathematical Society.

Ooguri's popular science books have sold over 400,000 copies in Japan, China and Korea, and one of them won the Kodansha Prize for Science Books. He also supervised a science movie, which was selected for the Best Educational Production Award from the International Planetarium Society and has been translated into six languages.