Sabine Hossenfelder

Sabine Karin Doris Hossenfelder (born 18 September 1976) is a German theoretical physicist, philosopher of science, author, science communicator, YouTuber, musician, and singer. She is the author of Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, which explores the concept of elegance in fundamental physics and cosmology, and of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions.

Early life and education

Sabine Hossenfelder was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, on 18 September 1976. She received an undergraduate degree in Mathematics in 1997 from the Goethe University Frankfurt. In 2004, she completed a doctorate in theoretical physics from the same institution, with her thesis titled "Schwarze Löcher in Extra-Dimensionen: Eigenschaften und Nachweis" (lit. 'Black Holes in Extra Dimensions: Properties and Proof'). That same year, she published an English research paper with a similar title, "Black Hole Relics in Large Extra Dimensions", in Physics Letters B.

Employment

Hossenfelder remained in Germany until 2004 as a postdoctoral researcher at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt. She was subsequently employed as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona, Tucson, University of California, Santa Barbara, and later at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada. In 2009, she became an assistant professor at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Sweden. Between 2015 and 2023, she was employed at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, followed by a post at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich's Center for Mathematical Philosophy after which she left academia.

Public engagement and scientific outreach

Hossenfelder is a popular science writer who has written books, and written a blog since 2006. The blog is called Backreaction and it is run by both Hossenfelder and her husband Stefan Scherer who is also a physicist. She contributes to the Forbes column "Starts with a Bang" and to The Guardian as well as Quanta Magazine, New Scientist, Nature Physics, Scientific American, Nautilus Quarterly and Physics Today.

Her 2018 book, Lost in Math, was also published in German with the title Das hässliche Universum (The Ugly Universe). Hossenfelder posits that the universe (and its particle model) is messy, and that it cannot be described by a mathematically beautiful Grand Unified Theory.

Hossenfelder runs two eponymous YouTube channels (one subtitled "Science without the gobbledygook"), another named "Sabine Hossenfelder [Music Videos]" for music videos she makes.

In August 2022, Hossenfelder released a book titled Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions, published by Viking Press.

In January 2023, Hossenfelder started her association with Big Think YouTube channel. Her first video published on the channel was a lecture named 'Do humans have souls?'.

Personal life

Hossenfelder married physicist Stefan Scherer in 2006. They have twin daughters born in December 2010.

Legacy

In 2024, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid after her, designated (16648) Hossi, after a nickname she acquired while in school.

Selected publications

• Hossenfelder, Sabine (12 June 2018). Lost in Math. New York, NY: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-09425-7.
• Hossenfelder, Sabine (9 August 2022). Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions. New York, NY: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-9848-7945-5.
• Hossenfelder, Sabine; Palmer, Tim (2020). "Rethinking Superdeterminism". Frontiers in Physics. 8. arXiv:1912.06462. doi:10.3389/fphy.2020.00139. ISSN 2296-424X.

References

External links

• Sabine Hossenfelder's personal website
• Sabine Hossenfelder's channel on YouTube
• Sabine Hossenfelder on LinkedIn