Lawrence Krauss

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Lawrence Krauss (2013)
Lawrence Krauss gives a lecture on cosmology (2012)
Lawrence Krauss (right) together with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Pamela Gay

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954 in New York City ) is an American theoretical physicist who is particularly concerned with cosmology. He is the author of several bestsellers, including The Physics of Star Trek .

Life

Scientific career

Krauss was born in New York City and grew up in Toronto . He graduated from Carleton University and received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 . He was then at Harvard (as a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows) and from 1985 Assistant Professor and from 1988 Associate Professor at Yale University . From 1993 he was Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Case Western Reserve University , until 2005 also Chairman of the Physics Faculty and from 2002 Director of the University's Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology. Since 2008 he has been a professor at Arizona State University , where he is the director of the Origins Initiative , a center that deals with the origins of the cosmos, humans, consciousness and culture in an interdisciplinary manner.

Krauss is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science . Raman Sundrum is one of his doctoral students .

Content orientation

Krauss deals, among other things, with the early universe, the nature of dark matter , neutrino astrophysics and (in continuation of the considerations of a classic essay by Freeman Dyson ) with the future of life in the universe. He is the author of several popular science books for which he has received high prizes. He continues to be known in the United States for nationwide public lectures promoting science popularization and is also active in the fight against creationism .

Lawrence Krauss made a name for itself again in 2007 in a New Scientist publication that previously undiscovered dark matter and dark energy could lead to an earlier end of space. He was referring to the so-called quantum Zeno effect . According to this theory, the inflationary expansion of the universe came about through the breakdown of a false vacuum that still holds some of its energy. Furthermore, the measurement of the universe through the observation of distant supernovae in the 1990s resulted in the detection of dark energy in a vacuum .

Under the title A Universe from Nothing , Krauss gave a series of lectures in which he explained the origin of the universe by saying that empty space is not really empty because it contains virtual particles that are possible in quantum dynamics . This is illustrated in more detail and catchy in his recently published book entitled above.

Sexual harassment allegations

In February 2018, several allegations of sexual harassment were made against Lawrence Krauss through the American website BuzzFeed.news, which he clearly contradicted. In a later investigation, Arizona State University confirmed another incident at a conference in Australia in 2016, which led to a recommendation by the dean to terminate Krauss, which Krauss also denied.

Based on these allegations, Krauss officially resigned from his position as professor at Arizona State University at the end of October 2018, but was formally employed there until May 2019.

Publications

Books:

  • The Fifth Essence: Search for dark matter in the universe . Basic Books, 1989, 1991, ISBN 0-465-02377-0 .
  • The Physics of Star Trek . Basic Books, 1995, 2007, ISBN 0-465-00559-4 , foreword by Stephen Hawking
  • Beyond Star Trek - physics from alien invasions to the end of time , Basic Books 1997, ISBN 0-06-097757-4 .
  • Quintessence - the mystery of the missing mass . Basic Books, 2000, ISBN 0-465-03741-0 (revised new edition of The Fifth Essence )
  • Fear of Physics - a guide for the perplexed . Basic Books, 1993, 2007, ISBN 0-465-02367-3
    • German edition: Let's assume the cow is a ball. Just don't be afraid of physics . DVA, 1996; Paperback edition DTV 1998, ISBN 3-421-02772-2
  • Atom. An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth ... and Beyond . Little Brown and Company, 2001, ISBN 0-316-18309-1 .
  • Hiding in the Mirror - a quest for alternative realities: from Plato to String theory (by way of Alice in Wonderland, Einstein and the twilight zone) . Viking, 2005; Penguin, 2006, ISBN 0-670-03395-2 .
  • Quantum man - Richard Feynman's life in science . Norton, 2011
  • A Universe from Nothing . Free Press, Simon & Schuster, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4516-2445-8
    • German edition: A universe out of nothing: ... and why there is still something . Albrecht Knaus Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8135-0468-2

Essays:

  • Cosmological Antigravity , Scientific American, January 1999
  • Questions that plague physics , Interview, Scientific American, August 2004
  • with Robert Scherrer End of cosmology ?. An accelerating universe wipes out traces of its own origin . In: Scientific American , March 2008
  • with Scherrer The return of the static universe and the end of cosmology . In: Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation , Volume 39, 2007, pp. 1545-1550, arxiv : 0704.0221
  • with Glenn Starkman: Life, the universe and nothing: life and death in an ever expanding universe . In: Astroph. J. , Volume 531, 2000, p. 22, arxiv : astro-ph / 9902189
  • with Starkman The fate of life in the universe . In: Scientific American , November 1999
  • with Starkman: The Fate of Life in the Universe . In: Spectrum of Science , February 2000 (also in Spectrum Dossier Cosmology , 2000)
  • with Michael Turner A cosmic conundrum . In: Scientific American , September 2004
  • with Michael Turner Geometry and destiny . In: General Relativity and Gravitation , Volume 31, 1999, pp. 1453-1459, arxiv : astro-ph / 9904020
  • with Michael Turner The cosmological constant is back . In: General Relativity and Gravitation , Volume 27, 1995, pp. 1137-1144, arxiv : astro-ph / 9504003

documentary

Prices

  • 1984: Gravity Research Foundation First prize award
  • 1986: Presidential Investigator Award
  • 2000: American Association for the Advancement of Science's Award for the Public Understanding of Science and Technology
  • 2001: Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize
  • 2001: Andrew Gemant Award
  • 2002: Science Writing Award from the American Institute of Physics for his book "Atom"
  • 2003: Oersted Medal
  • 2003: Honorary Doctorate from Carleton University
  • 2005: American Physical Society Joseph P. Burton Forum Award
  • 2016: Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation .

literature

Web links

Commons : Lawrence Krauss  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Spiegel Online: Controversial thesis - Do researchers let space die faster? , November 23, 2007
  2. ^ Krauss, Dent: The Late Time Behavior of False Vacuum Decay: Possible Implications for Cosmology and Metastable Inflating States . In: Physical Review Letters , Volume 100, 2008, p. 171301, arxiv : 0711.1821 . Krauss, James Dent, Glenn Starkman: Late Time Decay of the False Vacuum, Measurement, and Quantum Cosmology . In: Int J. Mod. Phys. , 2009, arxiv : 0810.4574
  3. ^ Krauss '09: “A Universe From Nothing” - YouTube video of a lecture by Krauss with the title A Universe From Nothing
  4. Peter Aldhous, Azeen Ghorayshi, Virginia Hughes: He Became A Celebrity For Putting Science Before God. Now Lawrence Krauss Faces Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct . BuzzFeed.news, February 22, 2018; accessed on October 25, 2018.
  5. Meredith Wadman: University finds prominent astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss grabbed a woman's breast . In: Science , August 3, 2018; accessed on October 25, 2018.
  6. ^ Robert Gast accusation of sexual harassment: Lawrence Krauss resigns professorship . Spektrum.de, October 25, 2018; accessed on October 25, 2018.
  7. unbelieversmovie.com - Official website
  8. Lawrence Krauss - Freedom From Religion Foundation . In: fff.org .