Don Nelson Page, , (born December 31, 1948) is an American-born Canadian theoretical

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

, Canada.

Work

Page's work focuses on

quantum cosmology Quantum cosmology is the attempt in theoretical physics to develop a quantum theory of the universe. This approach attempts to answer open questions of classical physical cosmology, particularly those related to the first phases of the universe. ...

and theoretical gravitational physics, and he is noted for being a doctoral student of Stephen Hawking, in addition to publishing several journal articles with him. Page got his BA at

William Jewell College William Jewell College is a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. It was associated with the Missouri Baptist Conventi ...

in the United States in 1971, attaining an MS in 1972 and a PhD in 1976 at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. His professional career started as a research assistant in Cambridge from 1976-1979, followed by an assistant professorship at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

from 1979-1983, and then an associate professor at Penn State until 1986 before taking on the title of professor in 1986. Page spent four more years at Penn State before moving to become a professor at the

in Canada in 1990.

Awards and honors

In 2012, Page became a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Canada judges to have "made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public lif ...

Religious views

Page is an Evangelical Christian. In commenting on the debate between William Lane Craig and Sean Carroll in 2014, he states in a guest post on Carroll's website that: "...in view of all the evidence, including both the elegance of the laws of physics, the existence of orderly sentient experiences, and the historical evidence, I do believe that God exists and think the world is actually simpler if it contains God than it would have been without God." In the same post he criticises William Lane Craig's

Kalam Cosmological Argument The Kalam cosmological argument is a modern formulation of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. It is named after the ''Kalam'' (medieval Islamic scholasticism) from which its key ideas originated. William Lane Craig was principally ...

, saying that it "is highly dubious metaphysically, depending on contingent intuitions .e. the first premisewe have developed from living in a universe with relatively simple laws of physics and with a strong thermodynamic arrow of time."

References

External links

Don Page's personal web site (archived)
Canadian evangelicals Canadian physicists California Institute of Technology alumni Living people University of Alberta faculty 1948 births People from Bethel, Alaska Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada William Jewell College alumni {{physicist-stub