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ProfessorDean Rickles

Professor of History & Philosophy of Modern Physics

Faculty of Science

Orcid identifier0000-0001-6186-3625 (opens in a new tab)⁠
  • Professor of History & Philosophy of Modern Physics
    Faculty of Science

BIO

Dean received his PhD from the University of Leeds in 2004, under the supervision of Steven French, with a thesis on conceptual issues in quantum gravity. He took up a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary in 2005 (split between health sciences and philosophy), on the application of complex systems theory to population health. He joined HPS at the University of Sydney in 2007, receiving an ARC Australian Research Fellowship in 2008. Held then an ARC Future Fellowship 2014-2018. He has written various books, including the following:

 

  • Harmony of the Spheres: Ancient and Recent Perspectives, co-edited with Ken Parry (Bloomsbury 2025)
  • Quantum Gravity and Computation: Information, Pregeometry, and Digital Physics, co-edited with Xerxes D. Arsiwalla and Hatem Elshatlawy (Routledge 2025)
  • Varieties of Nothingness, co-edited with Leslie Stein (Chiron 2024)
  • Dual-Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning, co-authored with Harald Atmanspacher (Routledge 2022)
  • Life is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making it More Meaningful. (Princeton University Press 2022)

  • Covered in Deep Mist: The Development of Quantum Gravity (1916-1956). Oxford University Press, 2020.

  • What is Philosophy of Science? Polity Press, 2020.

  • Quantum Gravity in the First Half of the 20th Century: A Sourcebook(co-authored with Alex Blum). Edition Open Access: Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge, 2018.

  • Philosophy of Physics. Polity Press, 2016.

  • A Brief History of String Theory: From Dual Models to M-Theory. The Frontiers Collection.Springer, 2014.

  • Symmetry, Structure, and Spacetime. Series on Philosophy and Foundations of Physics, Volume 3. Elsevier, 2007.

  • Thinking about Science, Reflecting on Art(co-edited with O. Bueno, G. Darby, and S. French). Routledge, 2017.

  • Information and Interaction: Eddington, Wheeler, and the Limits of Knowledge(co-edited with Ian Durham). Springer, 2016.

  • Structural Realism: Structure, Object, and Causality(co-edited with Elaine Landry). The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, Volume 77. Springer, 2012.

  • The Role of Gravitation in Physics: Report from the 1957 Chapel Hill Conference(co-edited with Cécile DeWitt). Edition Open Access: Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge, Volume 5, 2011.

  • Ashgate Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Physics. Ashgate, 2008.

  • The Structural Foundations of Quantum Gravity(co-edited with Steven French and JuhaSaatsi). Oxford University Press, 2006.

SCHOOL

  • School of History and Philosophy of Science

AVAILABLE FOR MEDIA

  • Academics can be contacted directly or via media.office@sydney.edu.au

FIELDS OF RESEARCH (2020)