Chancellor’s Professor · UC Irvine · Logic & Philosophy of Science
Physicist, mathematician, and philosopher.
My work concerns the mathematical and conceptual foundations of classical and quantum field theories — with side interests in the foundations of statistics, the history of physics, and models of financial markets.
Research
Four programs, one method: take the mathematics seriously.
Geometrical Foundations of Classical Field Theories
How the geometric structure of spacetime underwrites classical field physics — from Newtonian gravitation to gauge theory.
The Social Dynamics of False Belief
Network models of how social structure shapes the spread of belief, with Cailin O’Connor.
Philosophy of Cosmology
What makes cosmology a science: confirmation, model-building, and the limits of observation.
John von Neumann
A scientific biography of the 20th century’s most consequential mathematician.
Books
Recent publications
- “On (Some) Gauge Theories of Gravity.” Forthcoming in Philosophy of Science. Preprint.
- “We Were Never Sophisticated,” with C. Bradley. Forthcoming in Philosophy of Physics. Preprint.
- “Deterministic Theories,” with H. Halvorson and JB Manchak. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
- “Correctness, Artificial Intelligence, and the Epistemic Value of Mathematical Proof,” with J. Wolfson. Journal for the Philosophy of Mathematics.
- “Natural Theories,” with E. March. Forthcoming in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Preprint.
- “Spacetime Models for Cosmology.” Forthcoming in LMPST: Science and Values in an Uncertain World.
SoCal Philosophy of Physics
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Next meeting
2025-2026
Upcoming talks 16 May 2026 Chris Smeenk (Western / UCLA), “To Save the CMB” Inflationary cosmology has remained the consensus account of early universe physics, surviving four decades of increasingly precise CMB observations. But sustained compatibility with observations is not the same…