View source for Lee Smolin

{{Short description|American theoretical physicist (born 1955)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Lee Smolin
|image             = Lee Smolin At Harvard (cropped version 1).jpg
|caption           = Smolin in 2004
|birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1955|6|6}}<ref>[http://library.ias.edu/files/pdfs/ar/annualreportforf1980inst.pdf "The Institute for Advanced Study. Annual Report 1979/80"], p. 58</ref>
|birth_place       = New York City, US
|death_date        =
|death_place       =
|fields            = [[Physics]]<br>[[Physical cosmology|Cosmology]]
|workplaces        = [[Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics|Perimeter Institute]],<br /> [[University of Waterloo]]
|alma_mater        = [[Hampshire College]] <small>(B.A.)</small><br />[[Harvard University]] <small>(A.M., Ph.D)</small>
|doctoral_advisor  = [[Sidney Coleman]]<br />[[Stanley Deser]]
|academic_advisors =
|doctoral_students = <!-- commented out in line with Template:Infobox scientist#doctoral_students: [[Jeff Hersh]]<br>[[Jorge De Lyra]]<br>[[Paul Renteln]]<br>[[Viqar Husain]]<br>[[Bernd Bruegmann]]<br>[[Madhavan Varadarajan]]<br>[[Seth Major]]<br>[[Eli Hawkins]]<br>[[Daniel Cartin]] ([[Naval Academy Preparatory School]])<br>[[Sameer Gupta]]<br>[[Yi Ling]]<br>[[Artem Starodubtsev]] -->
|notable_students  =
|known_for         =
|prizes            = [[Majorana Prize]] (2007)<br />[[Klopsteg Memorial Award]] (2009)<br>[[Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal]] (2013)
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences        =
|influenced        =
|religion          =
|signature         =  <!--(filename only)-->
|footnotes         =
}}
'''Lee Smolin''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|m|oʊ|l|ɪ|n}}; born June 6, 1955) is an American [[theoretical physicist]], a faculty member at the [[Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics]], an adjunct professor of physics at the [[University of Waterloo]], and a member of the graduate faculty of the philosophy department at the [[University of Toronto]]. Smolin's 2006 book ''[[The Trouble with Physics]]'' criticized string theory as a viable scientific theory. He has made contributions to [[quantum gravity]] theory, in particular the approach known as [[loop quantum gravity]]. He advocates that the two primary approaches to quantum gravity, [[loop quantum gravity]] and [[string theory]], can be reconciled as different aspects of the same underlying theory. He also advocates an alternative view on space and time that he calls temporal naturalism. His research interests also include [[Physical cosmology|cosmology]], [[elementary particle]] theory, the foundations of [[quantum mechanics]], and [[theoretical biology]].<ref name="peri">[http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=72&e=Faculty&cat_id=433&cat_table=4&e=Lee%20Smolin%20&f=3&name=Lee%20Smolin%20&resident_id=1010 Smolin's faculty page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080718052724/http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=72&e=Faculty&cat_id=433&cat_table=4&e=Lee%20Smolin%20&f=3&name=Lee%20Smolin%20&resident_id=1010 |date=2008-07-18 }}, [[Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics|Perimeter Institute]].</ref>
==Personal life==
Smolin was born in New York City <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/Lee-Smolin|title=Perimeter Institute Profile|publisher=Perimeter Institute|access-date=2015-08-17}}</ref> to Michael Smolin, an environmental and process engineer and Pauline Smolin, a playwright. Smolin said his parents were Jewish followers of the [[Fourth Way]], founded by [[George Gurdjieff]], an Armenian mystic. Smolin described himself as Jewish.<ref>{{cite AV media
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| title =Eric Weinstein & Lee Smolin: Judging Theories of Everything, ID, & UFOs 👽
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| url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01xbK4hngU&t=3856s
| access-date =February 14, 2023
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}}</ref> His brother, [[David M. Smolin]], became a professor at the [[Cumberland School of Law]] in Birmingham, Alabama.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cumberland.samford.edu/faculty/david-m-smolin|title=David Smolin's Cumberland School of Law Faculty Page|publisher=Samford University|access-date=2015-08-17|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727145400/http://cumberland.samford.edu/faculty/david-m-smolin|archive-date=2014-07-27}}</ref>
Smolin dropped out of [[Walnut Hills High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)|Walnut Hills High School]] in Cincinnati, Ohio. His interest in physics began at that time when he read Einstein's reflections on the two tasks he would leave unfinished at his death: 1, to make sense of quantum mechanics, and, 2 to unify that understanding of the quanta with gravity. Smolin would take it as his "mission" to try to complete these tasks.{{R|Einstein|p=12}} Shortly afterward, he browsed the Physics Library at the [[University of Cincinnati]], where he came across [[Louis de Broglie]]'s pilot wave theory in French. "I still can close my eyes," Smolin wrote in "Einstein's Unfinished Revolution" "and see a page of the book, displaying the equation that relates wavelength to momentum."{{R|Einstein|p=xxviii}} Soon after that he would "talk his way into" Hampshire College, find great teachers, and get lucky in his applications to graduate school. As to his mission of solving Einstein's two big questions, by Smolin's account, he did not succeed; "Very unfortunately, neither has anyone else."{{R|Einstein|p=13}}
Smolin has stayed involved with theatre becoming a scientific consultant for such plays as ''[[A Walk in the Woods (play)|A Walk in the Woods]]'' by [[Lee Blessing]], ''Background Interference'' by [[Drucilla Cornell]], and ''Infinity'' by [[Hannah Moscovitch]].<ref>{{cite web |year=2015 |title=Tarragon Theatre Profile |url=http://tarragontheatre.com/contributor/lee-smolin/ |access-date=2015-08-17 |publisher=Tarragon Theatre}}</ref>
Smolin is married to Dina Graser, a lawyer and urban policy consultant in [[Toronto]], Ontario. He was previously married to [[Fotini Markopoulou-Kalamara]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Davies |first1=Sally |date=28 July 2016 |title=This Physics Pioneer Walked Away from It All |url=https://nautil.us/this-physics-pioneer-walked-away-from-it-all-236025/ |access-date=11 October 2022 |website=[[Nautilus (science magazine)]]}}</ref> His brother is law professor [[David M. Smolin]].
==Career==
He held postdoctoral research positions at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton, New Jersey]], the [[Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics]] in [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]], and the [[University of Chicago]], before becoming a faculty member at [[Yale University|Yale]], [[Syracuse University|Syracuse]], and [[Pennsylvania State University|Pennsylvania State]] Universities. He was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1995<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ias.edu/people/cos/users/lsmolin01|title=Institute for Advanced Study: Community of Scholars Profile|publisher=Institute for Advanced Study|access-date=2015-08-17|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308180305/https://www.ias.edu/people/cos/users/lsmolin01|archive-date=2016-03-08}}</ref> and a visiting professor at [[Imperial College London]] (1999-2001), before becoming one of the founding faculty members at the [[Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics|Perimeter Institute]] in 2001.
==Theories and work==
===Loop quantum gravity===
Smolin contributed to the theory of [[loop quantum gravity]] (LQG) in collaborative work with [[Ted Jacobson]], [[Carlo Rovelli]], Louis Crane, [[Abhay Ashtekar]] and others. LQG is an approach to the unification of quantum mechanics with general relativity which utilizes a reformulation of general relativity in the language of [[Gauge theory|gauge field theories]], which allows the use of techniques from particle physics, particularly the expression of fields in terms of the dynamics of loops. With Rovelli he discovered the discreteness of areas and volumes and found their natural expression in terms of a discrete description of quantum geometry in terms of [[spin network]]s. In recent years he has focused on connecting LQG to [[Phenomenology (particle physics)|phenomenology]] by developing implications for experimental tests of spacetime symmetries as well as investigating ways elementary particles and their interactions could emerge from spacetime geometry.
===Background independent approaches to string theory===
Between 1999 and 2002, Smolin made several proposals to provide a fundamental formulation of string theory that does not depend on approximate descriptions involving classical background spacetime models.
===Experimental tests of quantum gravity===
Smolin is among those theorists who have proposed that the [[Phenomenological quantum gravity|effects of quantum gravity can be experimentally probed]] by searching for modifications in special relativity detected in observations of high energy astrophysical phenomena, including very high energy cosmic rays and photons and neutrinos from gamma ray bursts.  Among Smolin's contributions are the co-invention of [[doubly special relativity]] (with [[João Magueijo]], independently of work by [[Giovanni Amelino-Camelia]]), and of [[relative locality]] (with Amelino-Camelia, [[Laurent Freidel]], and Jerzy Kowalski-Glikman).
===Foundations of quantum mechanics===
Smolin has worked since the early 1980s on a series of proposals for hidden variables theories, which would be non-local deterministic theories which would give a precise description of individual quantum phenomena.  In recent years, he has pioneered two new approaches to the interpretation of quantum mechanics suggested by his work on the reality of time, called the real ensemble interpretation and the principle of precedence.
===Cosmological natural selection {{anchor|Fecund universes}}===
{{main|Cosmological natural selection}}
Smolin's hypothesis of cosmological natural selection, also called the ''[[Fecundity|fecund]] universes'' theory, suggests that a process analogous to biological [[natural selection]] applies at the grandest of scales.  Smolin published the idea in 1992 and summarized it in a book aimed at a lay audience called ''[[The Life of the Cosmos]]''.
Black holes have a role in this natural selection. In fecund theory, a collapsing{{clarify|reason=How exactly did he think black holes can "collapse"?|date=December 2013}} [[black hole]] causes the emergence of a new universe on the "other side", whose fundamental constant parameters (masses of elementary particles, [[Planck constant]], [[elementary charge]], and so forth) may differ slightly from the universe where the black hole collapsed.  Each universe gives rise to as many new universes &mdash; its "offspring" &mdash; as it has black holes, giving an evolutionary advantage to universes in which black holes are common, which are similar to our own. The theory thus explains why [[fine-tuned universe|our universe appears "fine-tuned"]] for the emergence of life as we know it. Because the theory applies the evolutionary concepts of "reproduction", "mutation", and "selection" to universes, it is formally analogous to models of [[population biology]].
When Smolin published the theory in 1992, he proposed as a prediction of his theory that no neutron star should exist with a mass of more than 1.6 times the mass of the sun.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}  Later this figure was raised to two solar masses following more precise modeling of neutron star interiors by nuclear astrophysicists. Smolin also predicted that inflation, if true, must only be in its simplest form, governed by a single field and parameter.
===Contributions to the philosophy of physics===
Smolin has contributed to the philosophy of physics through a series of papers and books that advocate the relational, or [[Leibnizian]], view of space and time.  Since 2006, he has collaborated with the Brazilian philosopher and Harvard Law School professor [[Roberto Mangabeira Unger]] on the issues of the reality of time and the evolution of laws; in 2014 they published a book, its two parts being written separately.<ref>Smolin L., and Roberto Mangabeira Unger R., (2014), ''The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time: A Proposal in Natural Philosophy'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-1107074064}}</ref>
A book length exposition of Smolin's philosophical views appeared in April 2013. ''[[Time Reborn]]'' argues that physical science has made time unreal while, as Smolin insists, it is the most fundamental feature of reality: "Space may be an illusion, but time must be real" (p.&nbsp;179). An adequate description according to him would give a ''Leibnizian universe'': [[Identity of indiscernibles|indiscernibles]] would not be admitted and every difference should correspond to some other difference, as the [[principle of sufficient reason]] would have it. A few months later a more concise text was made available in a paper with the title ''Temporal Naturalism''.<ref>	Smolin L., [https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.8539 arXiv:1310.8539]</ref>
==''The Trouble with Physics''==
Smolin's 2006 book ''[[The Trouble with Physics]]'' explored the role of controversy and disagreement in the progress of science. It argued that science progresses fastest if the scientific community encourages the widest possible disagreement among trained and accredited professionals prior to the formation of consensus brought about by experimental confirmation of predictions of falsifiable theories.  He proposed that this meant the fostering of diverse competing research programs, and that premature formation of paradigms not forced by experimental facts can slow the progress of science.
As a case study, ''The Trouble with Physics'' focused on the issue of the [[falsifiability]] of string theory due to the proposals that the [[anthropic principle]] be used to explain the properties of our universe in the context of the string landscape. The book was [[The Trouble with Physics#Reviews|criticized]] by physicist [[Joseph Polchinski]]<ref>[[Joseph Polchinski]] (2007) "[http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/all-strung-out All Strung Out?]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183747/https://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/all-strung-out}} a review of ''The Trouble with Physics'' and ''Not Even Wrong'', ''American Scientist'' 95(1):1.</ref> and other string theorists.
In his earlier book ''[[Three Roads to Quantum Gravity]]'' (2002), Smolin stated that [[loop quantum gravity]] and string theory were essentially the same concept seen from different perspectives. In that book, he also favored the [[holographic principle]]. ''The Trouble with Physics'', on the other hand, was strongly critical of the prominence of string theory in contemporary theoretical physics, which he believes has suppressed research in other promising approaches. Smolin suggests that string theory suffers from serious deficiencies and has an unhealthy near-monopoly in the particle theory community. He called for a diversity of approaches to [[quantum gravity]], and argued that more attention should be paid to loop quantum gravity, an approach Smolin has devised. Finally, ''The Trouble with Physics'' is also broadly concerned with the role of controversy and the value of diverse approaches in the ethics and process of science.
In the same year that ''The Trouble with Physics'' was published, [[Peter Woit]] published ''Not Even Wrong'', a book for nonspecialists whose conclusion was similar to Smolin's, namely that string theory was a fundamentally flawed research program.<ref>{{Cite book | first = Peter | last = Woit | year = 2006 | title = Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory & the Continuing Challenge to Unify the Laws of Physics | publisher = [[Jonathan Cape]] | isbn = 0-224-07605-1}}</ref>
==Views==
Smolin's view on the nature of time:
<blockquote>More and more, I have the feeling that quantum theory and general relativity are both deeply wrong about the nature of time. It is not enough to combine them. There is a deeper problem, perhaps going back to the beginning of physics.<ref>Smolin, Lee. ''The Trouble With Physics,'' Houghton Mifflin Co, New York, 2006. (p. 256)</ref></blockquote>
Smolin does not believe that [[quantum mechanics]] is a "final theory":
<blockquote>I am convinced that quantum mechanics is not a final theory. I believe this because I have never encountered an [[interpretations of quantum mechanics|interpretation]] of the present formulation of quantum mechanics that makes sense to me. I have studied most of them in depth and thought hard about them, and in the end I still can't make real sense of quantum theory as it stands.<ref>Smolin's response to the question "What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?" [http://www.edge.org/q2005/q05_5.html#smolin "World Question Center 2005: Lee Smolin"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512004946/http://edge.org/q2005/q05_5.html#smolin |date=2008-05-12 }} ''[[Edge Foundation, Inc.|Edge]]''</ref></blockquote>
In a 2009 [https://physicsworld.com/a/the-unique-universe/ article], Smolin articulated the following philosophical views (the sentences in italics are quotations):
*''There is only one universe. There are no others, nor is there anything isomorphic to it''. Smolin denies the existence of a "timeless" [[multiverse]]. Neither other universes nor copies of our universe—within or outside—exist. No copies can exist within the universe, because no subsystem can model precisely the larger system it is a part of. No copies can exist outside the universe, because the universe is by definition all there is. This principle also rules out the notion of a mathematical object [[isomorphic]] in every respect to the history of the entire universe, a notion more [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] than scientific.
*''All that is real is real in a moment, which is a succession of moments. Anything that is true is true of the present moment''. Not only is time real, but everything that is real is situated in time. Nothing exists timelessly.
*''Everything that is real in a moment is a process of change leading to the next or future moments. Anything that is true is then a feature of a process in this process causing or implying future moments''. This principle incorporates the notion that time is an aspect of causal relations. A reason for asserting it, is that anything that existed for just one moment, without causing or implying some aspect of the world at a future moment, would be gone in the next moment. Things that persist must be thought of as processes leading to newly changed processes. An atom at one moment is a process leading to a different or a changed atom at the next moment.
*''Mathematics is derived from experience as a generalization of observed regularities, when time and particularity are removed''. Under this heading, Smolin distances himself from [[mathematical platonism]], and gives his reaction to [[Eugene Wigner]]'s "[[The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences]]".
Smolin views rejecting the idea of a creator as essential to cosmology on similar grounds to his objections against the multiverse.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jack|last=Huberman|title=The Quotable Atheist|publisher=[[Nation Books]]|pages=282|year=2006}}</ref> He does not definitively exclude or reject religion or mysticism but rather believes that science should only deal with that of which is observable.<ref>{{cite book|first=lee|last=smolin|title=Three Roads to Quantum Gravity|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|pages=1|year=2000}}</ref> He also opposes the [[anthropic principle]], which he claims "cannot help us to do science."<ref>''Scientific alternatives to the anthropic principle'', July 2004</ref>
He also advocates "principles for an open future" which he claims underlie the work of both healthy scientific communities and democratic societies: "(1)  When rational argument from public evidence suffices to decide a question, it must be considered to be so decided. (2)  When rational argument from public evidence does not suffice to decide a question, the community must encourage a diverse range of viewpoints and hypotheses consistent with a good-faith attempt to develop convincing public evidence." (Time Reborn p. 265.)
Lee Smolin has been a recurring guest on ''[[Through the Wormhole]]''.
==Awards and honors==
Smolin was named as #21 on [[Foreign Policy Magazine]]'s list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals.<ref>[https://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4379 "Top 100 Public Intellectuals: The Final Rankings"] ''[[Foreign Policy Magazine]]'' (June 27, 2008)</ref> He is also one of many physicists dubbed the "New [[Einstein]]" by the media.<ref>[[John Brockman (literary agent)|Brockman, John]]. "Introduction" to Kauffman, Stuart and Smolin, Lee. [http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/smolin/smolin_p1.html "A Possible Solution For The Problem Of Time In Quantum Cosmology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101202114/https://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/smolin/smolin_p1.html |date=2019-01-01 }} on ''[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]]'' (April 7, 1997)</ref> ''[[The Trouble with Physics]]'' was named by ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine as number 17 on a list of 50 "Books for our Time", June 27, 2009. In 2007 he was awarded the [[Majorana Prize]] from the Electronic Journal of Theoretical Physics, and in 2009 the [[Klopsteg Memorial Award]] from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) for "extraordinary accomplishments in communicating the excitement of physics to the general public," He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the American Physical Society. In 2014 he was awarded the Buchalter Cosmology Prize for a work published in collaboration with Marina Cortês.<ref>[http://www.buchaltercosmologyprize.org/#announcements Announcement]: First Prize for Dr. Marina Cortês, Dr. Lee Smolin	[[arxiv:1307.6167|The Universe as a Process of Unique Events]], Phys. Rev. '''D''' 90, 084007 (2014)[http://www.buchaltercosmologyprize.org/#announcements]</ref>
==Publications==
* 1997. ''[[The Life of the Cosmos]]'' {{ISBN|0195126645}}
* 2001. ''[[Three Roads to Quantum Gravity]]'' {{ISBN|0-465-07835-4}}
* 2006. ''[[The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next]]''. Houghton Mifflin. {{ISBN|978-0-618-55105-7}}
* 2013. ''[[Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe]]''. {{ISBN|978-0547511726}}
* 2014. ''[[The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time: A Proposal in Natural Philosophy]]'' by Lee Smolin and [[Roberto Mangabeira Unger]], Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-1107074064}}
* 2019. ''[[Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum]]'', Penguin Press. {{ISBN|9781594206191}}
==See also==
* [[List of University of Waterloo people]]
==References==
{{reflist|30em
<ref name="Einstein">{{Cite book |last=Smolin |first=Lee |title=Einstein's Unfinished Revolution: The search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum |publisher=Penguin |year=2020 |isbn=9780143111160 |edition=1st |location=New York |language=English |author-link=Lee Smolin}}</ref> He enrolled at [[Hampshire College]]. He received his Ph.D in [[theoretical physics]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1979.<ref name="peri" />
}}
==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://arxiv.org/a/smolin_l_1 A partial list of Smolin's published work]
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5670911 A debate of the merits of string theory] between Smolin and [[Brian Greene]], from [[National Public Radio]] (2006)
* "[http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/39306 The Unique Universe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110174814/http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/39306 |date=2012-01-10 }}": Smolin explains his skepticism re the [[multiverse]] (2009)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100708175747/http://www.closertotruth.com/participant/Lee-Smolin/96 Closer to the Truth]: Series of interviews by Smolin on fundamental issues in physics
* {{YouTube|6Hi4VbERDyI|"Time Reborn: a new theory of time - a new view of the world"}}: Smolin's presentation at the [[Royal Society of Arts]] (2013)
* {{MathGenealogy|id=105751}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:21st-century American physicists]]
[[Category:American cosmologists]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American Jews]]
[[Category:Hampshire College alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Cincinnati alumni]]
[[Category:Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Waterloo]]
[[Category:Loop quantum gravity researchers]]
[[Category:American relativity theorists]]
[[Category:Philosophers of cosmology]]
[[Category:Philosophers of time]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]