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Lawrence Krauss | |
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 Krauss atGhent University in 2013 | |
| Born | Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (1954-05-27)May 27, 1954 (age 71) New York City, U.S. |
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| Thesis | Gravitation and Phase Transitions in the Early Universe (1982) |
| Doctoral advisor | Roscoe Giles[1] |
| Website | www |
Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is a Canadian-Americantheoretical physicist andcosmologist who taught atArizona State University (ASU),Yale University, andCase Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project in 2008 to investigate fundamental questions about the universe and served as the project's director.
Krauss is an advocate forpublic understanding of science, public policy based on soundempirical data,scientific skepticism, andscience education. Ananti-theist, Krauss seeks to reduce the influence of what he regards as superstition and religious dogma inpopular culture.[2] Krauss is the author of several bestselling books, includingThe Physics of Star Trek (1995) andA Universe from Nothing (2012), and chaired theBulletin of the Atomic Scientists Board of Sponsors.[3][4]
Upon investigating allegations about sexual misconduct by Krauss, ASU determined that Krauss had violated university policy, and did not renew his directorship of ASU's Origins Project directorship for a third term in July 2018.[5] Krauss retired as a professor at ASU in May 2019, at the end of the following academic year. As of 2022,[6] he was listed as Principal Officer of The Origins Project Foundation, Inc. (a new organization, founded in 2019[7]).[8] Krauss hostsThe Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss[9] and publishes a blog titledCritical Mass.[10]
Krauss was born on May 27, 1954, inNew York City, but spent his childhood inToronto. He was raised in a household that was Jewish but not religious.[11] Krauss received undergraduate degrees inmathematics andphysics withfirst-class honours atCarleton University inOttawa in 1977, and was awarded a Ph.D. in physics at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982.[12][13]
After some time in theHarvard Society of Fellows, Krauss became an assistant professor atYale University in 1985 and associate professor in 1988. He left Yale forCase Western Reserve University in 1993 when he was named theAmbrose Swasey Professor of Physics, professor ofastronomy, and chairman of the physics department until 2005. In 2006, Krauss led the initiative for the no-confidence vote against Case Western Reserve University's presidentEdward M. Hundert and provostJohn L. Anderson by the College of Arts and Sciences faculty. On March 2, 2006, both no-confidence votes were carried: 131–44 against Hundert and 97–68 against Anderson.[14]
In August 2008, Krauss joined the faculty atArizona State University as a foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at the Department of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He also became the director of the Origins Project, a university initiative "created to explore humankind's most fundamental questions about our origins".[15][16] In 2009, he helped inaugurate this initiative at the Origins Symposium, in which eighty scientists participated and three thousand people attended.[17]
Krauss appears in the media both at home and abroad to facilitate public outreach in science. He has also written editorials forThe New York Times. As a result of his appearance in 2002 before the state school board ofOhio, his opposition tointelligent design has gained national prominence.[18]
Krauss attended and was a speaker at theBeyond Belief symposia in November 2006 and October 2008. He served on the science policy committee forBarack Obama's first (2008) presidential campaign and, also in 2008, was named co-president of the board of sponsors of theBulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 2010, he was elected to the board of directors of theFederation of American Scientists, and in June 2011, he joined the professoriate of theNew College of the Humanities, a private college in London.[19] In 2013, he accepted a part-time professorship at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics in the physics department of theAustralian National University.[20]
Krauss is a critic ofstring theory, which he discusses in his 2005 bookHiding in the Mirror.[21] In his 2012 bookA Universe from Nothing Krauss says about string theory "we still have no idea if this remarkable theoretical edifice actually has anything to do with the real world".[22][23] Released in March 2011, another book titledQuantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, whileA Universe from Nothing—with an afterword byRichard Dawkins—was released in January 2012, and became aNew York Times bestseller within a week. Originally, its foreword was to have been written byChristopher Hitchens, but Hitchens grew too ill to complete it.[24][25] The paperback version of the book appeared in January 2013 with a new question-and-answer section and a preface integrating the 2012 discovery of theHiggs boson at theLarge Hadron Collider. On March 21, 2017, his newest book,The Greatest Story Ever Told—So Far: Why Are We Here? was released in hardcover, paperback, and audio version.
A July 2012 article inNewsweek, written by Krauss, indicates how theHiggs particle is related to our understanding of theBig Bang. He also wrote a longer piece inThe New York Times explaining the science behind and significance of the particle.[26]
In January 2019, Krauss became President of the Origins Project Foundation,[27] a non-profit corporation intended to host public panel discussions on science, culture, and social issues.[28] On June 21, 2019, a new video podcast,The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss, launched with Krauss as host.[9] The first episodes included dialogues with Ricky Gervais, Noam Chomsky, and Jenny Boylan.
In 2024, Krauss edited the bookThe War on Science, a collection of essays from 39 academics addressing perceived threats to academic freedom and scientific progress, such as DEI programs, wokeness, and cancel culture. Contributors includeNicholas Christakis,Richard Dawkins,Peter Boghossian,Jordan Peterson,Steven Pinker,Alan Sokal andElizabeth Weiss. Krauss wrote an introductory overview and an epilogue. This is his third book published through the conservative Christian imprintPost Hill Press.[29]
Krauss mostly works intheoretical physics and has published research on a variety of topics within that field. In 1995 he argued in favour of the energy-density of the universe being dominated by the energy of empty space, quoting many other scientists who supported the existence of a nonzerocosmological constant.[30] In 1998 this prediction was confirmed by two observational collaborations and in 2011 the Nobel Prize was awarded for their discovery. Krauss has formulated a model in which the Universe could have potentially come from "nothing", as outlined in his 2012 bookA Universe from Nothing. He explains that certain arrangements of relativistic quantum fields might explain the existence of the Universe as we know it while disclaiming that he "has no idea if the notion [of taking quantum mechanics for granted] can be usefully dispensed with".[31] As his model appears to agree with experimental observations of the Universe (such as its shape and energy density), it is referred to by some as a "plausible hypothesis".[21][32] His model has been criticized by cosmologist and theologianGeorge Ellis,[33] who said it "is not tested science" but "philosophical speculation".
Initially, Krauss was skeptical of the existence of theHiggs boson.[34] However, after it was detected byCERN, he researched the implications of the Higgs field on the nature ofdark energy.[35]
Krauss has argued thatpublic policy debates in the United States should have a greater focus on science.[36][37][38][39] He criticized Republican presidential candidateBen Carson's statements on science, writing that Carson's remarks "suggest he never learned or chooses to ignore basic, well-tested scientific concepts".[40]
Krauss has described himself as anantitheist[41] and takes part in public debates on religion. Krauss is featured in the 2013 documentaryThe Unbelievers, in which he andRichard Dawkins travel across the globe speaking publicly about the importance of science and reason as opposed to religion and superstition.[42] He has participated in many debates with religiousapologists, includingWilliam Lane Craig[43] and John Lennox.[44]
In his bookA Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing (2012), Krauss discusses the premise thatsomething cannot come from nothing, which has often been used as an argument for the existence of aprime mover. He has since argued in a debate withJohn Ellis andDon Cupitt that the laws of physics allow for the Universe to be created from nothing. "What would be the characteristics of a universe that was created from nothing, just with the laws of physics and without any supernatural shenanigans? The characteristics of the universe would be precisely those of the ones we live in."[45] In an interview withThe Atlantic, however, he states that he has never claimed that "questions about origins are over". According to Krauss, "I don't ever claim to resolve that infinite regress of why-why-why-why-why; as far as I'm concerned it'sturtles all the way down".[46]
In an interview with Krauss in theScientific American, science writerClaudia Dreifus called Krauss "one of the few top physicists who is also known as apublic intellectual."[32] Krauss is one of very few to have received awards from all three major American physics societies: theAmerican Physical Society, theAmerican Association of Physics Teachers, and theAmerican Institute of Physics. In 2012, he was awarded theNational Science Board's Public Service Medal for his contributions topublic education in science and engineering in the United States.[47]
In 2006, Krauss helped organize a conference on gravity funded by a foundation run by financier and later convicted sex offenderJeffrey Epstein. The conference was held onSt. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and included a trip to Epstein's private island for dinner.[48][49] Krauss helped invite roughly 20 well-known physicists to the conference, includingGerard 't Hooft,David Gross,Frank Wilczek,Stephen Hawking,Kip Thorne,Lisa Randall,Maria Spiropulu,Barry Barish, andAlan Guth, as well as authorBetsy Devine.[50]
Later, The Origins Project, which was at the time under the direction of Krauss, received $250,000 from an Epstein foundation called "Enhanced Education".[51][52][53]
Krauss defended Epstein after his 2008 guilty plea of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18. In 2011, Krauss told an interviewer, "As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I've never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people...I don't feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it."[54][55]
Harvard ProfessorSteven Pinker said that Krauss was one of several colleagues who invited him to "salons and coffee klatsches" that included Epstein.[56] In August 2025,The New York Times published reports of letters given to Epstein for his 63rd birthday, including one from Krauss. Krauss stated that he did not recall the letter but attended several gatherings at Epstein's home.[57]
On November 12, 2025, theHouse Committee on Oversight and Government Reform published additional files related to Epstein showing that Krauss responded via e-mail to Epstein, answering Epstein's joke "Let's do a men of the world conference." Krauss suggested the notional conference includeKevin Spacey,Bill Clinton,Al Franken andWoody Allen. Each of these men had been accused of sexual wrongdoing.[58][59] In an email dated 2017, Krauss asked Epstein what to do if Krauss was accused of sexual misconduct.[60]
In a February 2018 article describing allegations that "range from offensive comments to groping and non-consensual sexual advances",[61]BuzzFeed News reported a variety of sexual misconduct claims against Krauss, including two complaints from his years at Case Western Reserve University.[62] Krauss responded that the article was "slanderous" and "factually incorrect".[61] In a public statement, he apologized to anyone he made feel intimidated or uncomfortable, but stated that the BuzzFeed article "ignored counter-evidence, distorted the facts and made absurd claims about [him]."[63][64] Case Western Reserve responded to the student complaint by restricting Krauss's access to campus, although by the time the sanctions began he had already left for ASU.[62]
ASU stated that they had not received complaints from faculty, staff, or students before the BuzzFeed article but subsequently began an internal investigation regarding an accusation that Krauss grabbed a woman's breast while at a convention in Australia.[5] Investigators interviewed two eyewitnesses, and two other witnesses who immediately spoke with the unnamed woman. The witnesses described the woman as troubled and shocked. The woman told investigators that "she did not feel victimized, felt it was a clumsy interpersonal interaction and thought she had handled it in the moment."[5] ASU found that thepreponderance of evidence suggested that Krauss had violated the university's policy against sexual harassment by grabbing a woman's breast without her permission.[65][66] As a result, Krauss was not renewed as director of the Origins Project[67] and the university moved its staff to a project run by planetary scientistLindy Elkins-Tanton, formally ending the Origins project.[68]
In response to the university determination, Krauss produced a 51-page appeal document responding to the allegations, including a counter-claim that a photo claimed to be of Krauss grabbing a woman's breast was actually showing his hand moving away from the woman.[69]
Several organizations also canceled scheduled talks by Krauss.[61] Krauss resigned from the position of chair of theBulletin of the Atomic Scientists Board of Sponsors when informed that its other members felt his presence was distracting "from the ability of the Bulletin to effectively carry out [its] work".[70][71]
Following the ASU investigation, Krauss was placed on paid administrative leave starting in March 2018 and was recommended for dismissal by the dean of the department. He later retired from ASU at the end of the 2018–2019 academic year.[72]
Krauss has authored or co-authored more than three hundred scientific studies[73] and review articles on cosmology and theoretical physics.
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2025 (link)'Leading the national discussion requires some basic knowledge of what the important issues are, what is known and not known, and what new efforts need to be commenced,' says physicist Lawrence Krauss. 'Scientific data is not Democratic or Republican.'
Too little of the US presidential campaign mentions science, says Krauss, considering its importance.
Krauss has long been an organizer for Epstein's scientific conferences, helping to collect many big names to gather under a single event. The biggest is perhaps a 2006 conference dedicated to understanding gravity, held at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, and bringing in scientists like the late Stephen Hawking
ASU announced Thursday that the Origins Project, formerly headed by Lawrence Krauss, will move underneath the University's Interplanetary Initiative and lose its name.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)| International | |
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