Photo: Lumidek at English Wikipedia / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Lee Smolin is the kind of thinker I find irresistible: a Harvard-trained theoretical physicist who used his standing to challenge the dominant orthodoxy rather than ride it. As a founding member of the Perimeter Institute and the author of The Trouble with Physics, he took direct aim at string theory's grip on the field. I'm in no position to judge who's right, but I deeply value the temperament he represents, the willingness to keep asking whether the consensus actually holds up. Recognition like the Majorana Prize and his APS fellowship suggests he earned the right to dissent. Science moves forward on stubborn questioners like him.
Overview
Lee Smolin (; born June 6, 1955) is an American theoretical physicist, a founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo, and a member of the graduate faculty of the philosophy department at the University of Toronto. Smolin's 2006 book The Trouble with Physics criticized string theory's viability.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lee Smolin
- Name (Japanese)
- リー・スモーリン
- Reading
- りー・すもーりん
- Born
- June 6, 1955 (age 71)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Goat
- Origin
- New York City, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- astronomer / theoretical physicist / non-fiction writer / university teacher / physicist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Walnut Hills High School
- University
- Harvard University
Awards & achievements
- 2007 Majorana Prize
- Fellow of the American Physical Society
- Buchalter Cosmology Prize
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://leesmolin.com/
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B9%E3%83%A2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3
Astronomer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.