Sabine Hossenfelder
Sabine Hossenfelder (born 1976) is a German theoretical physicist, science communicator, author, musician, and YouTuber. She is the author of Lost in Math: How beauty leads physics astray, which explores the concept of elegance in fundamental physics and cosmology, and of Existential Physics: A scientist’s guide to life’s biggest questions.
Sabine Hossenfelder | |
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![]() Hossenfelder in 2017 | |
Born | 1976 |
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | Goethe University Frankfurt |
Known for | Analog models of gravity |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Quantum gravity |
Institutions | Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies |
Thesis | Schwarze Löcher in Extra-Dimensionen : Eigenschaften und Nachweis (2003) |
Doctoral advisor | Horst Stöcker |
YouTube information | |
Channel | |
Years active | 2007–present |
Genre | Science communication |
Subscribers | 858 thousand[1] (30 April 2023) |
Total views | 79 million[1] (30 April 2023) |
YouTube information | |
Channel | |
Years active | 2015–present |
Genre | Music |
Subscribers | 8.69 thousand[2] (27 March 2023) |
Total views | 236,544[2] (27 March 2023) |
Website | http://sabinehossenfelder.com |
Early life and education
Sabine Hossenfelder was born in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany in 1976.[3] She received an undergraduate degree in Mathematics in 1997 from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main.[4] In 2004 she completed a doctorate in theoretical physics from the same institution with a thesis titled Schwarze Löcher in Extra-Dimensionen: Eigenschaften und Nachweis.[5][6][note 1]
Research
Hossenfelder remained in Germany until 2004 as a postdoctoral researcher at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt.[4] She was subsequently employed as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona, Tucson, University of California, Santa Barbara, and later at the Perimeter Institute, Canada. In 2009, she became an assistant professor at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Sweden.[7] Between 2015 and 2022, she was employed at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies.
Public engagement and scientific achievements
Hossenfelder is a freelance popular science writer who has written a blog since 2006.[8] She contributes to the Forbes column "Starts with a Bang"[9] as well as Quanta Magazine,[10] New Scientist,[11] Nature Physics,[12] Scientific American,[13] Nautilus Quarterly[14] and Physics Today.[15]
Her 2018 book, Lost in Math, was also published in German with the title Das hässliche Universum (The Ugly Universe). Hossenfelder posits that the universe (and its particle model) is messy, and that it cannot be described by a mathematically beautiful Grand Unified Theory.[16]
She currently runs an eponymous YouTube channel (subtitled "Science without the gobbledygook"). She also has a YouTube channel for music she writes and records.
In August 2022, Hossenfelder released a book titled Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions, published by Viking Press.[17]
Personal life
She married Stefan Scherer in 2006. They have twin daughters born in 2010.[18]
Selected publications
- Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray. Basic Books, 2018.
- Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions. Viking Press, 2022.
Notes
- That same year, she published a paper with a similar title in the journal Physics Letters B in English, titled "Black Hole Relics in Large Extra Dimensions".
References
- "About Sabine Hossenfelder". YouTube.
- "About Sabine Hossenfelder (Music videos)". YouTube.
- "Die Grundlagenphysik hat sich vergaloppiert, sagt die Physikerin Sabine Hossenfelder im Interview" – Kultur
- "Bio". sabinehossenfelder.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- Hossenfelder, Sabine (6 October 2003). Schwarze Löcher in Extra-Dimensionen : Eigenschaften und Nachweis (PhD). Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg. OCLC 1184087608.
- Hossenfelder, Sabine (6 October 2003). Schwarze Löcher in Extra-Dimensionen : Eigenschaften und Nachweis (PhD). INSPIRE-HEP. OCLC 1184087608.
- Mühlen, Hans. "Sabine Hossenfelder – NORDITA". www.nordita.org. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- "About". backreaction.blogspot.ch. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- Hossenfelder, Sabine. "Why Trust A Theory? Physicists And Philosophers Debate The Scientific Method". Starts with a Bang. Forbes. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- "Sabine Hossenfelder | Quanta Magazine". www.quantamagazine.org. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- "Strangely familiar: Is dark matter normal stuff in disguise?". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- Hossenfelder, Sabine (5 April 2017). "Science needs reason to be trusted". Nature Physics. 13 (4): 316–317. Bibcode:2017NatPh..13..316H. doi:10.1038/nphys4079. S2CID 125850100.
- Hossenfelder, Sabine (2015). "Head Trip". Scientific American. 313 (3): 46–49. Bibcode:2015SciAm.313c..46H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0915-46. PMID 26455101.
- Hossenfelder, Sabine (2 February 2017). "What Quantum Gravity Needs Is More Experiments". Nautilus. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- Hossenfelder, Sabine (1 December 2013). "The Universe in the Rearview Mirror: How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality". Physics Today. 66 (12): 50. Bibcode:2013PhT....66l..50H. doi:10.1063/PT.3.2217. ISSN 0031-9228.
- Sabine Hossenfelder: Das hässsliche Universum. Frankfurt 2018. p. 67 pp. (in German)
- Catherine Lantz (reviewer) (1 June 2022). "Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions". Library Journal.
- "Freedom from Religeon Foundation". Retrieved 11 March 2023.
External links
Quotations related to Sabine Hossenfelder at Wikiquote
- Sabine Hossenfelder's personal website
- Sabine Hossenfelder's channel on YouTube