Sabine Hossenfelder | |
|---|---|
 Hossenfelder in 2017 | |
| Born | (1976-09-18)18 September 1976 (age 49) Frankfurt, West Germany |
| Alma mater | Goethe University Frankfurt (Diploma, 1997; Dr. phil. nat., 2003)[1] |
| Spouse | Stefan Scherer[6] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Quantum gravity |
| Institutions |
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| Thesis | Schwarze Löcher in Extra-Dimensionen : Eigenschaften und Nachweis (2003) |
| Doctoral advisor | Horst Stöcker |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Genre | Science communication |
| Subscribers | 1.7 million[7] |
| Views | 293 million[7] |
| Last updated: 27 April 2025 | |
Sabine Karin Doris Hossenfelder (born 18 September 1976) is a Germantheoretical physicist, author of popular-science books, and host of aYouTube channel.[8]
Hossenfelder was born inFrankfurt and earned a mathematics diploma fromGoethe University Frankfurt in 1997.[1] She stayed on to complete a doctorate in theoretical physics in 2003; her dissertation, supervised byHorst Stöcker, studied microscopic black-hole production in models with large extra dimensions.[9]
After post-doctoral posts at theGSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research,University of Arizona,UC Santa Barbara andPerimeter Institute in Canada,[2] she joinedNORDITA in Stockholm as an assistant professor in 2009. In 2015 she moved to theFrankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, where she led the "Analog Systems for Gravity Duals" group and, in 2019, received the institute's inaugural Award for Innovative Thinking.[3] From 2023 to 2025, she was affiliated with theLMU Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, where she researched the role of locality and fine-tuning in quantum-mechanical foundations.[5][non-primary source needed]
Hossenfelder has written the popular-science blogBackreaction since 2006 and has contributed articles toNature,New Scientist andQuanta Magazine.[8] Her first trade book,Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray (Basic Books, 2018), argues that an aesthetic preference for "beautiful" theories has hindered progress in fundamental physics.[10] Her follow-up,Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions, was published by Viking in 2022.[11]
OnYouTube, her channel reached 1.7 million subscribers and 293 million total views by April 2025.[7][better source needed]
Hossenfelder's more recent content has received criticism for her attacks on academic research[12][13] and forconspiracy theory-style portrayals of the physics community.[14]
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