Antonio Padilla

Last updated
Antonio Padilla
Alma mater Cambridge University
Durham University
Awards Buchalter Cosmology Prize (2016)
Scientific career
Fields Theoretical physics
Institutions University of Nottingham
Thesis Braneworld Cosmology and Holography  (2002)
Doctoral advisor Ruth Gregory
Website www.nottingham.ac.uk/physics/people/antonio.padilla

Antonio Padilla (born 1975), also known as Tony Padilla, is a British theoretical physicist and science populariser. He is Professor of Physics at the University of Nottingham, where he is also Associate Director of the Nottingham Centre of Gravity. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Padilla studied at Cambridge University as an undergraduate, and completed his PhD at Durham University in 2002. [2] At Durham he was part of the Centre for Particle Theory, a research group with members in both the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Department of Physics. [3]

Career

Padilla held research positions at the University of Oxford and the University of Barcelona before joining the University of Nottingham. [4] He is active in science communication, and is a recurring presenter on the YouTube series Numberphile and its sister channel, Sixty Symbols . [4]

In 2016, he and collaborator Nemanja Kaloper of the University of California, Davis received the Buchalter Cosmology Prize for their work on the cosmological constant problem. [2] Kaloper and Padilla devised a new strategy; this involved rewriting Einstein’s equations to 'effectively cancel out the input from quantum fluctuations' and treat the cosmological constant as an average of the matter contribution over all of space and time. [5] This produced a 'relatively small cosmological constant', but also predicted that universe expansion will eventually reverse direction. [5]

In 2022, Padilla released Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, which explains the role played by vast and ultra-small numbers in contemporary physics. [6] [7] The book was developed from a series of public lectures delivered by Padilla to raise money for a friend to receive cancer treatment abroad. Topics covered include the theory of Graham's number. [8]

References

  1. ↑ "Tony Padilla". University of Nottingham . Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Antonio Padilla". Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  3. ↑ "Tony Padilla". Durham University. Archived from the original on 23 March 2002. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Tony Padilla". Janklow & Nesbit. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  5. 1 2 Schirber, Michael (6 March 2014). "Cosmological Constant Redefined". Physics . American Physical Society. pp. s29. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.091304 . Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  6. ↑ Holgate, Sharon Ann (9 December 2022). "A theoretical physicist's guide to numbers very small and very large". TLS. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  7. ↑ Timothy Nguyen (27 September 2023). "Antonio Padilla: Fantastic Numbers, Naturalness, and Anthropics in Physics". The Cartesian Cafe (Podcast). Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  8. ↑ "Using extraordinary numbers in physics to explain the mysteries of the universe". Phys.org . 27 May 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
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