木瓜福利影视

Philosopher of physics, especially astronomy and cosmology.

available until the 12th of March.

Research Interests

My research interests within philosophy of physics, metaphysics and philosophy of science focus on astronomy & cosmology (especially dark matter, dark energy & black holes), symmetries, physical quantities, spacetime & gravity, and the epistemology of scientific collaborations.

Research Group

Our Utrecht Philosophy of Astronomy & Cosmology Research Group (UPAC) consists of philosophers of physics and physicists focusing on modern astronomy, astrophysics & cosmology. All information can be found on our webpage.

We organise a weekly colloquium (hybrid), alternating between a speaker, a reading group session and a work-in-progress session. It is possible to sign up for the UPAC Colloquium Mailing List (please check your spam folder for an email with a confirmation link to complete the subscription process).

Current Projects

As of 2023, I am the PI of a five-year   (Philosophy of COSMOlogy: Matter And SpaceTime ERadicated).

I am also one of the philosophy co-leads of the , focusing on the social epistemology and governance structure of this collaboration of 300+ astronomers, engineers, philosophers, historians & sociologists attempting to record the first ever high-quality video of a black hole. Check out our (or see for the highlights). This is the first time that the of a large astrophysics collaboration include contributions from scholars from the social sciences and humanities.

Moreover, I am a member of the and the , faculty affiliate at , and an associate member of the . 

Previous Projects (Selection)

Dark Matter

The philosophy of dark matter is a young but rapidly growing field. I was managing guest editor of the first-ever 鈥攕ee the for an overview of research questions within this novel field of expertise.

Dark matter provides an interesting .

I am fascinated by the tense relationship between the dark matter and modified gravity communities. I believe that there are less obstacles towards a fruitful collaboration between these two approaches than is typically believed by either of these camps. For starters, the approaches are not always , as some theories can be both dark matter and a modification of gravity. A large range of opens up in the context of such hybrid theories. Moreover, although each research programme seems to have a different standard of success, by supposedly favouring , the reality is much less black-and-white than it may seem.

Dimensional Magnitudes in Physics

Sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology are replete with properties that are quantitative鈥攖hey come in degrees. Moreover, these physical magnitudes are often dimensional鈥攖hey are represented by a number times a unit. Does this mean that only magnitude ratios are what matters for physical reliaty, or is there a need for absolute magnitudes over and beyond these ratios? If all masses in the universe would suddenly double, would we notice a difference? Are such scaling transformations a symmetry of our world?

I defend (at least in the context of Newtonian Gravity), the view that the world includes absolute Newtonian masses that underlie mass ratios. I tried my best to develop better versions of the opposing view, "comparativism", via a and approach, but find that these views are still wanting.

Could we eliminate mass altogether by substituting it for spatiotemporal magnitudes?

With I discuss the that is at play in the symmetry-to-(un)reality inferences that underlie such debates. 

A book on these topics has just been published within the by Cambridge 木瓜福利影视 Press.

Short Biography

Previously, I was a Marie Curie Fellow at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, working on the and a Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy of Physics within the interdisciplinary research unit , located at the 木瓜福利影视 of Bonn, Germany, in the , and at RWTH Aachen 木瓜福利影视, in the We (still) investigate philosophical aspects of the Dark Matter vs Modified Gravity debate. 

My DPhil (=PhD)  was accepted in 2017, after being supervised by   and whilst I was a member of  (木瓜福利影视 of Oxford). It discusses what it means for a physical magnitude to be dimensionful. Before that I did an MSt in Philosophy of Physics, also at Magdalen College, and before that a BSc and MSc in Theoretical Physics and a BA in Philosophy of Physics at the 木瓜福利影视 of Groningen. My Linnemann number is 2.