Joseph Conlon

Joseph Conlon

Tutor in Physics; Professor of Theoretical Physics
Physics
BSc R'dg, MA PhD Camb

With a mother who is a physics teacher a father with a maths PhD my career as a theoretical physicist cannot be said to rebel against parental stereotype.

Following an early mathematics degree at Reading (1999), I did undergraduate and PhD degrees at Cambridge, obtaining my PhD in 2006. I was a JRF in Cambridge at Trinity College until moving to Oxford in 2008 with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. I have been a permanent member of the Physics department since 2010 and joined New College in January 2012.

When I can find the time I enjoy marathon running and have been five times under three hours. I am a member of Heterodox Academy and am concerned about the growing intellectual monoculture within universities.

Tutorial teaching is one of the most rewarding forms of teaching and we are lucky at New College with the wonderful variety of bright students we get from all parts of the UK and beyond.

Research Interests

I am a theoretical physicist with broad interests across string theory, particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. I like to learn new areas of physics and much of my research consists of connecting different aspects of physics in unexpected ways. The unifying theme, such as it is, is how to connect fundamental theories of nature to observations.

Selected Major Publications:

My popular book Why String Theory? was the 2016 Physics World Book of the Year. 

My technical papers are all listed on my website at http://www-thphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/people/JosephConlon/papers.html
 

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