The speaker is a theorist who works across physics, theoretical neuroscience, and computer science, seeking elegant, deep questions that allow measurable progress. Trained in fundamental physics—gravity, black holes, the early universe, and quantum gravity—they are also fascinated by how information is processed in natural systems and how complexity arises from simple dynamics. Their approach combines tools from disparate fields (e.g., using general‑relativity geometry to formalize Occam’s razor, or applying condensed‑matter self‑organization models to neural grid‑cell circuits) to build new explanations. They stress the importance of the liberal arts and literature for understanding how to live and for grounding science in culture and history, and they incorporate literary examples into teaching. Personal anecdotes—early exposure to scientific biographies in Calcutta, a Harvard Society Fellowship that let them explore neuroscience, and childhood reading—illustrate how interdisciplinary curiosity and a broad toolkit shape their research and pedagogy.
1. I am a theorist who works broadly across physics, theoretical neuroscience, and computer science.
2. In my daily work I move smoothly between these fields.
3. I am engaged in all these fields simultaneously.
4. My PhD and training focused on the fundamental laws of nature, the nature of space and time, gravity near black holes, the early universe, and quantizing gravity.
5. Throughout my career I have been interested in the nature of information, what it is, and how it appears and is processed by natural systems.
6. I have studied questions about whether black holes destroy information (Hawking’s paradox).
7. I have studied how neural systems take information from the world, encode it, and transmit it to the central brain.
8. A recurring theme in my work is the notion of complexity.
9. I have written many papers on how certain physical dynamics produce complex states of matter while others do not.
10. I am interested in the laws and principles that govern the organization of living and non‑living systems in nature.
11. My research spans an enormous range of scales.
12. In practice, interdisciplinarity is more rigid than the academic talk suggests because degrees and rewards are tied to specific fields.
13. Pursuing multiple fields requires establishing separate credibility in each discipline.
14. When I was about seven, I lived in Calcutta, India, and visited market booksellers where I saw the “Wonderbook” of famous scientists.
15. As a junior fellow of the Harvard Society Fellows (not tied to any lab), I used the freedom to moonlight in neuroscience labs and learn the subject.
16. One of my first graduate‑student papers came after learning general relativity; I applied its differential‑geometry tools to think about Occam’s razor and the geometry of model spaces.
17. With my students and postdocs I have deployed my toolkit to study brain circuits, particularly the grid‑cell system that creates maps of the world.
18. We found that the self‑organizing dynamics of the grid‑cell circuit is analogous to classic self‑organizing problems in condensed‑matter physics, such as the Frenkel‑Kontorova model.
19. This analogy led us to propose a two‑dimensional generalization that explains how neurons can produce hierarchical maps of the world.
20. The idea for this neural model came directly from my knowledge of condensed‑matter physics problems.
21. Literature has mattered greatly to me; I spent many childhood summers reading books that shaped my imagination.
22. In my teaching I regularly use literary examples and analogies, setting aside half of a class each week to read and contextualize literature.
23. The passage we discuss is from the first chapter of *Swann’s Way*, the first volume of *Remembrance of Things Past* by Marcel Proust.
24. In that passage, the narrator describes tasting a madeleine dipped in tea, which triggers a vivid childhood memory of his aunt giving him the same treat on Sunday mornings.
25. The passage illustrates how taste and smell can evoke powerful memories.