Reader
Room: 5316
Tel:
0131 650 8571
Email:
J.Simon@ed.ac.uk
The most important driving force in my research is the understanding of spacetime. This involves learning what it is made of, how emerges from a more fundamental (discrete) nature and includes understanding the meaning and origin of time. This is why I am a string theorist, and why I am interested in black holes, resolution of singularities and thermodynamics of horizon (null) hypersurfaces. In more modern language, I am interested in holography and duality.
I am also interested in understanding the world we see and measure, in particular, the relevance that quantum gravity has (may have) to explain such observations. I study how experimental data constrains string theory UV complete models of particle physics and cosmology.
Maria Johnstone
"Gravitational aspects in string theory", Pre-Strings held at Granada (Spain), from June 17th to June 22nd (2007).
"Gravitational thermodynamics and the quantum nature of spacetime", workshop held in Edinburgh, from June 16th-20th (2008).
KITP programme "Bits, Branes and black holes", Santa Barbara (USA), March-May 2012.
KITP conference "Black holes & information", Santa Barbara (USA), May 15-19th 2012.
Workshop "Quantum aspects of Black holes" to be held in Korea, January 7-11th, 2013.
I was born in Barcelona (Spain) on a September 23rd, one sunday morning, a few hours before Barcelona (the team of my heart) defeated Espanyol by 3-0. Some hours later my father registered me as an official supporter, before being registered in the social security. I believe this still describes rather accurately who I am and who I will be. After that, I enjoyed playing basketball and hiking in the Pyrenees, before deciding that I wanted to devote my life to the understanding of nature at its most fundamental level (theoretical physics). Fortunately, being a string theorist did not prevent me from learning some of the most fundamental truths of our existence (not necessarily scientifical).
Undergraduate studies in Physics in Barcelona. Ph D in physics in Barcelona.
Three year postdoc at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, from october 2000 to august 2003. Three year postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, from september 2003 to august 2006. One year postdoc at the University of California in Berkeley, from september 2006 to july 2007.
