About Me

My name is Alex and I am currently an undergraduate Astrophysics student at St-Andrews University in Scotland.

My interest in astronomy really started when I was 16 and got my first telescope. I have always had a passionate interest in Physics and just trying to understand how things fitted together and what makes the world tick.

During my time at university I have developed an interest in complex systems. These are systems which can have many interacting variables or parameters. They often lead to very interesting behaviour which can be studied as emergent properties of the system. The exact prediction of complex systems is very hard (One example being weather prediction) often due to the many interactions which can show unstable non-linear effects.

It is my belief that our observable world should be able to be explained as an emergent property of some lower level interactions. Physics aims to provide an understanding of these low level 'laws'. It is for this reason that physicists often tend to want to examine extreme systems, these can shed light on the limits of natural laws giving rise to quantum effects on the small scale and relativistic effects on large systems.

The theories of relativity and quantum physics are well developed and seem to work well for their respective systems. The problem lies in the fact that we have two theories as opposed to one, consolodating the two into a single theory of everything is the holy grail of modern physics.

As a student I am attempting to learn and develop the mathematical abilities to be able to describe and look for signatures in complex systems that may help towards this goal of unification. Although my passion is for theoretical physics/astronomy, the mathematical techniques used in this field can be applied elsewhere particularly in processing of complex data sets.

In addition to my theoretical work I also think it is important to be well grounded in the experimental side of science. In this respect I have been lucky enough to work with some leading scientists on the next generation of Astronomical instrumentation and telescopes.

In 2011 I cofounded the science communication portal ShareSci.net, this project aims to help scientists communicate their research to the public by giving them an easy interactive way to display their interests and expertise in science.

I hope you enjoy the site and if you have any questions or want to contact me don't hesitate to get in touch.

Alex