Paul Halpern

Biography

Dr. Halpern's areas of expertise include the history of physics, cultural aspects of physics and theoretical astrophysics & cosmology. He is the author of numerous books and was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002. He was among 184 artists, scholars and scientists nationally selected to receive a fellowship from more than 2,800 applicants for awards totaling $6,750,000. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. He used the fellowship award to examine the history of the notion of higher dimensions in science, as well as the impact of this idea upon popular culture. His research, ""The Concept of Dimensionality in Science,"" covered the period from the mid-19th century, when the idea of the fourth dimension was first introduced, until the late 20th century, when scientists developed 10 and 11 dimensional models of the universe. A recipient of the Athenaeum Society Literary Award, he has published numerous research articles in the fields of general relativity, cosmology, chaos theory and complexity. In 1996, he was a Fulbright Scholar to Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, where he studied evolutionary algorithms.

Research Interest

Complex and higher-dimensional solutions in general relativity, the history of modern physics, and the relationship between science and culture.