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Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist and author known for his contributions to quantum gravity and his ability to communicate complex scientific ideas to a broad audience.
Carlo Rovelli has published several popular science books with Penguin Random House, including "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics," "The Order of Time," "Reality Is Not What It Seems," "Helgoland," "There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness," "Anaximander: And the Birth of Science," and "White Holes".
Carlo Rovelli collaborated with the rock band Belladonna on the single "Nothing Shines Unless It Burns," released in November 2022. The song was later entered into the Grammy Awards ballot in the Best Rock Performance category in October 2023.
Rovelli appeared in the 2022 Netflix documentary "A Trip to Infinity," where he discussed the mathematical implications of infinity.
Carlo Rovelli has been featured on several BBC Radio 4 programs, including "Desert Island Discs" (2017), "The Life Scientific" (2018), "A Good Read" (2020), and "The Museum of Curiosity" (2023).
Rovelli appeared on the BBC Radio 3 show "Private Passions" in 2020, discussing the intersection of time in music and science.
Rovelli appeared as a Disney character in a Mickey Mouse story published in the Italian Disney publication of Topolino (issue no. 3175).
Carlo Rovelli was born in Verona, Italy, on May 3, 1956. He pursued his education in physics, graduating from the University of Bologna in 1981 and earning his PhD from the University of Padua in 1986. During the 1970s, he engaged in student political movements, notably participating in free political radio stations like Radio Alice in Bologna and Radio Anguana in Verona. His early experiences, including a brief detention for refusing compulsory military service in 1977, shaped his perspective. Rovelli held postdoctoral positions at institutions including the University of Rome, the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, and Yale University, laying the groundwork for his distinguished scientific career.
From 1990 to 2000, Rovelli was on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh, where he was also affiliated with the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. During this period, he notably co-developed loop quantum gravity with Lee Smolin and Abhay Ashtekar, a significant theory in the field of quantum gravity. In 1995, working with Smolin, he demonstrated that this theory predicted the quantization of area and volume, indicating a discrete structure of space at small scales. His work continued to evolve, and he introduced a “sum over surfaces” formulation of the theory in 1997 with Michael Reisenberger, which later developed into the “spin foam” version of loop quantum gravity. Since 2000, he has been a professor at the Centre de Physique Théorique de Luminy of Aix-Marseille University in France, continuing his research and maintaining multiple distinguished affiliations.
Rovelli has made significant contributions beyond quantum gravity, including the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics and the thermal time hypothesis. He is an Emeritus Professor at the Centre de Physique Théorique of Marseille, a Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute, a core member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy at Western University, and a Fractal Faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute. His ability to popularize complex scientific concepts is evident in his bestselling book, “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics,” which has sold over two million copies worldwide and been translated into 41 languages. His efforts have earned him recognition as one of the most influential global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2019 and Prospect magazine in 2021.
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