Anthony Aguirre

Anthony Aguirre
Born	(1973-07-23) July 23, 1973 (age 51)
Nationality	American
Scientific career
Fields	Cosmology, Physics
Institutions	UC Santa Cruz
Thesis	Intergalactic dust and metals in cosmology (2000)
Doctoral advisors	Lars Hernquist, David Layzer

Anthony Aguirre (born 1973) is a theoretical cosmologist.[1] Aguirre is a professor and holds the Faggin Presidential Chair for the Physics of Information at the University of California, Santa Cruz.[2] He is the co-founder and associate scientific director of the Foundational Questions Institute[3] and is also a co-founder of the Future of Life Institute.[4][5][6][7] In 2015, he co-founded the aggregated prediction platform Metaculus with Greg Laughlin. In 2019, he published the pop science book Cosmological Koans.[8][9]

Early life and education

Aguirre was born on July 23, 1973.[10] He received a B.S. in Mathematics/Physics from Brown University in 1995, an M.S. in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University.[1][2]

Career

His research has focused on various topics in theoretical physics including early universe, inflation, the foundations of quantum mechanics, foundations of statistical mechanics, gravity physics, first stars, the intergalactic medium, galaxy formation and black holes.[11]

Together with Max Tegmark he developed the cosmological interpretation of quantum mechanics.[12]

In the media

• Aguirre appears in the How Vast is the Cosmos? part of the Closer to Truth PBS series.
• Aguirre appears on the show Horizon, in the episode "How Big is the Universe?"[13]
• Aguirre also appears in the episode "Living in a Parallel Universe" of the Naked Science documentary series on the National Geographic Channel.[14]
• Aguirre was a guest on Sean Carroll’s Mindscape podcast, which was released on June 17, 2019 under the title of Cosmology, Zen, Entropy, and Information.
• Through the Wormhole#Season 4
• In 2022, Aguirre appeared in the Netflix documentary A Trip to Infinity,[15] discussing the mathematical implications of infinity.

References

1. "Anthony Aguirre". Anthony Aguirre. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
2. Stephens, Tim (28 September 2016). "Physicist Anthony Aguirre appointed to endowed chair in physics of information". UC Santa Cruz. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
3. "Who we are". Foundational Questions Institute. Retrieved 25 Nov 2014.
4. "Who we are". Future of Life Institute. Retrieved 25 Nov 2014.
5. Strong, Rebecca (15 January 2015). "3 Things to Know About the Elon Musk-Backed Future of Life Institute". Bostinno. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 Jun 2015.
6. Hardawar, Devindra (15 January 2015). "Elon Musk donates $10M to keep AI from going full Skynet". Engadget. Retrieved 5 Jun 2015.
7. Maynard, James (15 January 2015). "Elon Musk Donates $10 Million to Keep Us Safe from Artificial Intelligence". Tech Times. Retrieved 5 Jun 2015.
8. "Cosmological Koans publisher page". Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 Aug 2019.
9. Natarajan, Priyamvada (7 June 2019). "'Cosmological Koans' Review: Matter and Mystics". The Wall Street Journal.
10. "Anthony N. Aguirre CV" (PDF). ucsc.edu. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
11. "Anthony Aguirre". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
12. Aguirre, Anthony; Tegmark, Max Erik (August 2010). "Born in an Infinite Universe: a Cosmological Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics". Physical Review. arXiv:1008.1066.
13. "How Big is the Universe?". Horizon. Season 49. Episode 4. 27 August 2012. BBC Two. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
14. "Living in a Parallel Universe". Naked Science. Season 8. Episode 9. 19 May 2011. National Geographic Channel. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
15. Halperin, Jonathan; Takahashi, Drew (2022-09-26), A Trip to Infinity (Documentary), Makemake, Room 608, retrieved 8 November 2023