Douglas Stanford probes the chaos inside black holes
His black hole discovery could pave the way to a new theory of quantum gravity
Douglas Stanford, 31
Theoretical physics
Institute for Advanced Study and Stanford University
Douglas Stanford’s fascination with black holes had its origins in an unlikely place: a sailboat.
Starting at age 10, Stanford spent five years sailing around the world with his parents and two sisters. Sailboats are “like a physics laboratory,” Stanford says. Keeping the boat on course requires balancing the forces induced by wind and water. “You can see really simple physics effects happening,” he says.
Today, Stanford, 31, applies his physics know-how to more abstract problems: Black holes, quantum mechanics and chaos.