Stephon Alexander is a

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

cosmologist Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

, musician, and author who blends the worlds of theoretical physics and jazz music.

Personal life and education

Alexander was born in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

and moved to the United States when he was eight. He grew up in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and attended

DeWitt Clinton High School , motto_translation = Without Work Nothing Is Accomplished , image = DeWitt Clinton High School front entrance IMG 7441 HLG.jpg , seal_image = File:Clinton News.JPG , seal_size = 124px , ...

where his physics teacher Daniel Kaplan inspired him to study physics. Alexander is a scientist and a jazz saxophonist who ponders links, including sound, between small and big things in the universe that go beyond Einstein's curved space-time and big bang theory.

Einstein's field equation In the general theory of relativity, the Einstein field equations (EFE; also known as Einstein's equations) relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter within it. The equations were published by Einstein in 1915 in the form ...

being his favorite equation, his publication ''The Jazz of Physics'' is an autobiographical reflection of his research and theories. Involved with cosmology as a professional physicist, he is also a jazz saxophonist and a student of the works of John Coltrane, among other musicians interested in cosmology. At DeWitt Clinton High School in 10th grade, Alexander's mentor was his physics teacher Daniel Kaplan, who was the reason behind diverting Alexander's mind towards physics when discussing velocity and friction. In 2006, Alexander was named as one of the eight ''National Geographic'' inquisitive experimenters and explorers.

Career

After receiving his doctoral degree, Alexander was a research physicist at

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, London, as well as at the

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. Departme ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Alexander has held faculty positions 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 ...

, Haverford College, and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

before joining the faculty at Brown University. Alexander is the president of the

National Society of Black Physicists The National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), established in the United States in 1977, is a non-profit professional organization with the goal to promote the professional well-being of African Diaspora physicists and physics students within the ...

. He is also the executive director of Science and Arts Engagement New York Inc. (SAENY).

Academic life

Alexander started his academic career as a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College, London, (2000-2002) and later on went to be a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University's SLAC and Institute for Theoretical Physics (2002-2005). In 2005, he became an assistant professor of physics at Penn State University. In 2008, he served at Haverford College as an associate professor of physics leading to his positions of Ernest Everett 1907 Associate Professor of Natural Sciences and associate professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. Alexander also works as a professor at Brown University and has spent much of his career as a first generation advocate. He also advocates for historically under-represented groups in the sciences. He is a member of the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...

of ''Universe''.

Research

In June 2012, Alexander co-authored a paper that reinterpreted

Hořava–Lifshitz gravity Hořava–Lifshitz gravity (or Hořava gravity) is a theory of quantum gravity proposed by Petr Hořava in 2009. It solves the problem of different concepts of time in quantum field theory and general relativity by treating the quantum concept as ...

. The paper, ''Hořava-Lifshitz theory as a fermionic aether in Ashtekar gravity'' described how the ''HL theory'' could be naturally occurring. The authors also theorized that ''HL gravity'' could be interpreted as a time-like current that fills space-time. In December 2012, Alexander was the co-author of the paper "Gravitational origin of the weak interaction's chirality". Focusing on the

Lorentz group In physics and mathematics, the Lorentz group is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime, the classical and quantum setting for all (non-gravitational) physical phenomena. The Lorentz group is named for the Dutch physicis ...

, the authors studied the unification of the electroweak and gravitational interactions and the space-time connection. The authors theorized, in ways similar to Plebanski and Ashtekar, how those weak interactions on the right-handed chiral half in space-time connection could explain the

weak interaction In nuclear physics and particle physics, the weak interaction, which is also often called the weak force or weak nuclear force, is one of the four known fundamental interactions, with the others being electromagnetism, the strong interaction, ...

. The theory devised by Alexander and his co-authors was broken down into two phases. The first is a parity symmetric phase, similar to the studies and workings of Speziale. The next phase depends on whether the parity is broken or not. Under the breaking, it shows a

Dirac fermion In physics, a Dirac fermion is a spin-½ particle (a fermion) which is different from its antiparticle. The vast majority of fermions – perhaps all – fall under this category. Description In particle physics, all fermions in the standard model ...

expressing itself as a chiral neutrino.Stephon Alexander; Antonino Marciano; Lee Smolin (December 2012)
"Gravitational origin of the weak interaction's chirality"
INSPIRE-HEP. Around the same time, Alexander co-authored another paper that focused on the study of electric time in

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. ...

. The paper formulated and studied new possibilities of the

quantum In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizati ...

behavior of space-time. Alexander has mainly worked to extend Einstein's

general theory of relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric scientific theory, theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current descr ...

curved space-time, taking it to extremes in the connection between the smallest and largest entities in the universe. Alexander has worked as the director of

's EE Just STEM Scholars Program, volunteered for public speaking in inner city schools, taught mathematics in prisons and monitors activities relevant to his scholarship.

Media

In February 2013, Alexander wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' about the need for black academics to set a positive trend for the next generation. In the article, he called upon a number of personal experiences from his own education and life. Alexander has been interviewed or quoted in media sources such as the ''Tavis Smiley Show'', ''Forbes Magazine'', ''NPR'', Brian Lehrer Show, Science Salon/''Skeptic Society'', ''Downbeat Magazine'', and ''Mercury News''.

Music

His album with Rioux was ''Here Comes Now''. Alexander and bassist

Melvin Gibbs Melvin Gibbs is an American bass guitarist who has appeared on close to 200 albums in diverse genres of music. Among others, Gibbs is known for working in jazz with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and guitarist Sonny Sharrock, and in rock music ...

formed a group that they named

God Particle The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Standa ...

. Alexander is also the author of ''The Jazz of Physics'', a book that discusses the link between music and the structure of the universe. On a ''

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

'' documentary, Alexander was featured discussing his life as a jazz saxophonist, while also working as a physicist during the day.Marykwas, Donna (November 19, 2010). "PBS NOVA's secret life of scientist Stephon Alexander: sax-playing physicist".

Publications

* 2016 ''The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe''. * 2021 ''Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider's Guide to the Future of Physics''.

Awards

*2006 National Geographic Emerging Explorers *2008 NSF Career Award. *2010 AAAS John Wesley Powell Memorial Award. *2013 APS E. BOUCHET AWARD. *2022

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of American Physic ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Stephon American cosmologists American physicists American writers about music American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists Brown University alumni Haverford College alumni American male jazz musicians Brown University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society