David Wallace

I am a philosopher and physicist at the University of Pittsburgh, where I hold the Mellon Chair in Philosophy of Science with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Before coming to Pitt, I spent twenty-two years at the University of Oxford as student, researcher and faculty, and then three years at the University of Southern California.

My original training was in theoretical physics: I took a Physics PhD (also at Oxford) before my interests took me towards more conceptual and foundational questions in physics, and from there into philosophy.

My research interests are mostly in the philosophy of physics. I've been particularly active in trying to develop and defend the Everett interpretation of quantum theory (often called the "Many-Worlds Interpretation"); my book on the Everett interpretation, "The Emergent Multiverse", was published in June 2012. But I also have philosophical and conceptual interests in quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, quantum gravity, statistical mechanics, general relativity, symmetry and gauge theory, and basically pretty much all of contemporary philosophy of physics. Outside philosophy of physics, I'm interested in emergence and reductionism, in structural realism, and in decision theory.

I like cats and (extinct) dinosaurs, but don't currently own any of either.

Last update: 7/20/2024