- Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA, (born 8 January1942) is a British theoretical physicist. Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes, and his popular works in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general.
- Roger Penrose
Sir Roger Penrose, OM, FRS (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. He is renowned for his work in mathematical physics, in particular his contributions to general relativity and cosmology. He is also a recreational mathematician and philosopher.
- Paul Davies
Paul Charles William Davies (born April 22, 1946) is a British-born, physicist, writer and broadcaster, who holds the position of College Professor at Arizona State University. He has held previous academic appointments at the University of Cambridge, University of London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are in the fields of cosmology, quantum field theory, and astrobiology.
- Lee Smolin
Lee Smolin (born 1955 in New York City) is an American theoretical physicist, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. Smolin is best known for devising several different approaches to quantum gravity, in particular loop quantum gravity. He advocates that the two primary approaches to quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity and string theory, …
- Lisa Randall
Lisa Randall (born 18 June, 1962) is a leading theoretical physicist and expert on particle physics, string theory and cosmology. She works on several of the competing models of string theory in the quest to explain the fabric of reality, and was the first tenured woman in the Princeton University physics department and the first tenured female theoretical physicist at MIT and Harvard University.
- Neil Turok
Dr. Neil Turok earned his PhD at Imperial College. After a postdoc in Santa Barbara, he was appointed Associate Scientist at Fermilab before moving to Princeton where he became Professor of Physics in 1994. In 1997 he was appointed to the Chair of Mathematical Physics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at Cambridge. In October, 2008, he moved to the Perimeter Institute as its new Director.
- George Smoot
George Fitzgerald Smoot III (born February 20 1945) is an American astrophysicist and cosmologist awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics with John C. Mather for "their discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation". This work helped cement the big-bang theory of the universe using the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite.
- Brian Swimme
Brian Swimme (born 1950) is an author of several books dealing with cosmology, evolution and religion. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1978 in gravitational dynamics. His research focuses on the evolutionary dynamics of the universe, the relationship between scientific cosmology and more traditional religious visions and the role of humanity in the unfolding story of Earth and cosmos.
- Dennis Overbye
Dennis Overbye (born June 2, 1944 in Seattle, Washington) is a science writer specializing in physics and cosmology. Overbye received his B.S. in physics from M.I.T. - where he was a member of the Alpha Mu chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma - in 1966. He started work towards a master's degree in astronomy from U.C.L.A. in 1970 (though left to write a novel, which currently remains in a drawer).
- Joel Primack
Joel Primack is a professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and works at the Lick Observatory. Dr. Primack received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1970. According to his web site at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Dr. Primack's specific field of study is relativistic quantum field theory, cosmology and particle astrophysics.
- George Ellis
George Ellis, FRS, (born August 11, 1939) is the Distinguished Professor of Complex Systems in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He co-authored "The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time" with University of Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking, published in 1973, and is considered one of the world's leading theorists in cosmology. He is an active Quaker and in 2004 he won the Templeton Prize.
- Nancey Murphy
Nancey Murphy is a Christian theologian and philosopher known for her works on theology and science. She is currently Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary. She received a B.A. in psychology and philosophy at Creighton University in 1973, a Ph.D in Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1980- where she studied under the famed philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend, …
- Georges Lemaître
Father Georges Henri Joseph Éduard Lemaître was a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, honorary prelate, professor of physics and astronomer. Fr. (later Msgr.) Lemaître proposed what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe, although he called it his 'hypothesis of the primeval atom'. He was a pioneer in applying Einstein's theory of general relativity to cosmology: suggesting a pre-cursor of Hubble's law in 1927, …
- Richard Tarnas
Richard Tarnas (born February 21 1950), author of "The Passion of the Western Mind" (1991) and "Cosmos and Psyche" (2006), is a cultural historian and professor of philosophy and psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and founding director of its graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness.
- Gia Dvali
Georgi (Gia) Dvali (born 1964) is a professor of physics, and a member of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, at New York University. He received his Ph.D. in high energy physics and cosmology from Tbilisi State University, Georgia in 1992. Before joining the NYU faculty in 1998, he worked at two renowned international research centers: the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, …
- John C. Mather
John Cromwell Mather (b. August 7, 1946 in Roanoke, Virginia), is an American astrophysicist and cosmologist. Mather is a senior astrophysicist at the U.S. space agency's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and adjunct professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with George F. Smoot for "their discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation".
- Carlos Frenk
Professor Carlos S. Frenk (born October 27, 1951) is a world-famous Mexican-British cosmologist who has given invited lectures at major international conferences thoroughout the world. His main interests lie in the field of cosmology, galaxy formation and computer simulations of cosmic structure formation.
- Alexander Vilenkin
Alexander Vilenkin is Professor of Physics and Director of the "Institute of Cosmology" at Tufts University. A theoretical physicist who has been working in the field of cosmology for 25 years, Vilenkin has written over 150 papers and is responsible for introducing the ideas of eternal inflation and quantum creation of the universe from nothing. His work in cosmic strings has been pivotal.
- David Wilcock
David Wilcock is a professional intuitive consultant, clairvoyant, visionary, channeller, and popular speaker. He has appeared on television interviews and a large number of radio talk shows (like Coast to Coast AM), lectured in the United States and Japan, and is author of a number of magazine articles, an online book, and co-author of "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce", …
- João Magueijo
João Magueijo is a cosmologist and lecturer in theoretical physics at Imperial College London. He is a supporter of the variable speed of light (VSL) theory of cosmology, which proposes that the speed of light was much higher in the early universe. It is presented as an alternative to the more mainstream theory of cosmic inflation. The model was first proposed by John Moffat, a Canadian scientist, in the early 1990s.
- Jayant Narlikar
Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (Marathi: प्रा. जयंत विष्णू नारळीकर) is an eminent Indian astrophysicist. Narlikar is considered a leading expert and defender of the steady state cosmology. His work on conformal gravity theory with Sir Fred Hoyle, called Hoyle-Narlikar theory, demonstrated a synthesis can be achieved between Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and Mach's principle.
- Matt Visser
Matt Visser is a mathematics Professor at Victoria University of Wellington. Some of his research interests include General Relativity, Quantum Field Theory, and Cosmology. Visser has produced a large number of research papers on the subject of wormholes, gravitational horizons and notably the emerging subject of acoustic metrics. He is the author of the reference book on the current state of wormhole theory, …
- Abraham
Abraham (Avi) Loeb is an American/Israeli theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. He is currently a professor of astronomy and the director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) at Harvard University. Loeb was born in Israel in 1962 and took part in the national Talpiot program before receiving a graduate degree in Plasma Physics at age 24 from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
- Jean-Pierre Luminet
Jean-Pierre Luminet is a French astrophysicist, specialized in black holes and cosmology. He works as research director for the CNRS ("Centre national de la recherche scientifique"), and is a member of the "Laboratoire Univers et Théories" (LUTH) of the observatory of Paris-Meudon. The asteroid 5523 Luminet, was named after him
- Michael Heller
Michael Heller, (birth: October 14, 1936 - USA) is a professor of philosophy at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, Poland, and an adjunct member of the Vatican Observatory staff. He also serves as a lecturer in the philosophy of science and logic at the Theological Institute in Tarnow. A Roman Catholic priest, Dr. Heller was ordained in 1959.
- Edward L. Wright
Edward L. (Ned) Wright is an American astrophysicist and cosmologist, well known for his achievements in the Nobel prized (2006) COBE-project and as a strong Big Bang proponent in web tutorials on cosmology and theory of relativity. Wright received his ABscl (Physics in 1969) and PhD (Astronomy in 1976) degrees from Harvard University. After teaching in the MIT Physics Department for a while, Wright has been a Professor at UCLA since 1981.
- David Wands
David Wands is Professor of cosmology at the University of Portsmouths institute of cosmology. His research interests are in cosmology and the physics of the early universe. Wands has published numerous papers on cosmology.
- Avishai Dekel
Avishai Dekel is a professor of physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, doing research in astrophysics and cosmology. Prof. Dekel got his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in 1980, and was a research fellow at Caltech and an assistant professor at Yale University before joining the faculty of the Hebrew University in 1986.
- Laura Mersini
Dr. Laura Mersini is a theoretical physicist-cosmologist and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since January 2004. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Tirana in her native Albania, and she was awarded a PhD in 2000 by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has worked on a variety of topics on the particle physics-cosmology interface.
- Yun Wang
Yun Wang is a poet and professor of astrophysics specializing in cosmology. She is originally from Gaoping, a small town near Zunyi, in Guizhou Province, China. Her poetry books include "The Carp" from Bull Thistle Press, and "The Book of Jade" (ISBN 1-58654-023-8) from Story Line Press.
- Kari Enqvist
Kari-Pekka Enqvist (born February 16 1954 in Lahti, Finland) is a professor of cosmology in the Department of Physical Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Enqvist got his PhD in theoretical physics in 1983. Enqvist is the chairman of the scientific advisory board of Skepsis ry which is a Finnish sceptics society and has written many books that popularize physics.
- Tony Rothman
Tony Rothman (b. 1953) is an American theoretical physicist specializing in cosmology, and science fiction writer. Rothman holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College, (1975) and a Ph.D from the University of Texas at Austin (1981), where he studied at the Center for Relativity. He continued on post-doctoral fellowships at Oxford, the University of Moscow and the University of Cape Town.
- Carolyn Merchant
Carolyn Merchant (born circa 1936 in Rochester, New York, USA) is an American ecofeminist philosopher most famous for her theory on the 'Death of Nature', whereby she identifies the Enlightenment as the period when science began to atomise, objectify and dissect nature, foretelling its eventual conception as inert. Her works were important in the development of environmental history and the history of science.
- Paul Frampton
Paul Frampton (born October 31, 1943 in England) is a theoretical physicist, active in the field of model building in cosmology and high energy physics. He is Rubin Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina. He received a BA (1965, double first), MA DPhil (1968) and DSc (1984) from Oxford as a member of Brasenose College.
- Pascual Jordan
Pascual Jordan (b. October 18, 1902 in Hanover, Germany; d. July 31, 1980 in Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany) was a theoretical and mathematical physicist who made significant contributions to quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Jordan's great-grandfather Pascual Jorda was a Spanish nobleman and cavalry officer who served with the British during and after the Napoleonic Wars.
- Thanu Padmanabhan
Thanu Padmanabhan, (Malayalam: താണു പദ്മനാഭന്) is an Indian theoretical physicist. He is currently Distinguished Professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, (IUCAA) at Pune, India. His principal fields of research are Cosmology and the interface between Gravity and Quantum theory.
- Robert H. Dicke
Robert Henry Dicke (May 6 1916 - March 4 1997) was an American physicist, who made important contributions to the fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, cosmology and gravity.
- Massimo Porrati
Massimo Porrati (born Genova, Italy) is a professor of physics, and a member of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, at New York University. He graduated from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy with a "Diploma di Scienze" degree in 1985. Later he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA and UC Berkeley in USA. He was a research scientist at the INFN section in Pisa, Italy, in collaboration with CERN, before joining NYU in 1992.
- Shao Yong
Shao Yong, named Shào Kāngjié (邵康節) after death, was a Song Dynasty Chinese philosopher, cosmologist, poet and historian who greatly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism in China. Shao is considered one of the most scholarly men of his time. Yet, unlike men of such stature in his society, Shao avoided assuming governmental positions his entire life. Despite this, his influence was no less substantial.
- Ken Olum
Ken Olum is a research assistant professor in the Institute of Cosmology at Tufts University. Olum studies cosmic strings, cosmic rays, energy conditions in general relativity, and the anthropic principle in cosmology. Olum was a Mathematics major graduating from Stanford University in 1982. Olum received his Ph.D. in 1997 from MIT. His thesis was in the problem of information radiated from black holes. Ken Olum is the son of Paul Olum, …