Antonio Padilla
{{notability|1=Academics|date=April 2025}}
{{short description|British physicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Antonio Padilla
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| birth_date =
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| fields = Theoretical physics
| workplaces = University of Nottingham
| alma_mater = Cambridge University
Durham University
| doctoral_advisor = Ruth Gregory
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| known_for =
| awards = Buchalter Cosmology Prize (2016)
| thesis_title = Braneworld Cosmology and Holography
| thesis_year = 2002
| thesis_url = https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4628/1/4628_2093.PDF?UkUDh:CyT
| website = {{URL|https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/physics/people/antonio.padilla}}
}}
Antonio Padilla (born 1975), also known as Tony Padilla, is a British theoretical physicist and science populariser. He is Professor of Physics at the University of Nottingham, where he is also Associate Director of the Nottingham Centre of Gravity.{{cite web |title=Tony Padilla |url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/physics/people/antonio.padilla |website=University of Nottingham |access-date=8 April 2025}}
Early life and education
Padilla studied at Cambridge University as an undergraduate, and completed his PhD at Durham University in 2002.{{cite web |title=Antonio Padilla |url=https://www.jodrellbank.net/speaker-profile/antonio-padilla/ |website=Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre |access-date=8 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415094838/https://www.jodrellbank.net/speaker-profile/antonio-padilla/ |archive-date=15 April 2021}} At Durham he was part of the Centre for Particle Theory, a research group with members in both the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Department of Physics.{{cite web |title=Tony Padilla |url=http://www.cpt.dur.ac.uk/Members/Postgrads/ |publisher=Durham University |access-date=8 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020323092523/http://www.cpt.dur.ac.uk/Members/Postgrads/ |archive-date=23 March 2002}}
Career
Padilla held research positions at the University of Oxford and the University of Barcelona before joining the University of Nottingham. He is active in science communication, and is a recurring presenter on the YouTube series Numberphile and its sister channel, Sixty Symbols.{{cite web |title=Tony Padilla |url=https://janklowandnesbit.co.uk/authors/tony-padilla |website=Janklow & Nesbit |access-date=8 April 2025}}
In 2016, he and collaborator Nemanja Kaloper of the University of California, Davis received the Buchalter Cosmology Prize for their work on the cosmological constant problem. Kaloper and Padilla devised a new strategy; this involved rewriting Einstein’s equations to 'effectively cancel out the input from quantum fluctuations' and treat the cosmological constant as an average of the matter contribution over all of space and time.{{cite web |last1=Schirber |first1=Michael |title=Cosmological Constant Redefined |url=https://physics.aps.org/articles/v7/s29 |website=Physics |publisher=American Physical Society |access-date=25 April 2025 |pages=s29 |language=en |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.091304 |date=6 March 2014}} This produced a 'relatively small cosmological constant', but also predicted that universe expansion will eventually reverse direction.
In 2022, Padilla released Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, which explains the role played by vast and ultra-small numbers in contemporary physics.{{cite web |last1=Holgate |first1=Sharon Ann |title=A theoretical physicist's guide to numbers very small and very large |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/science-technology/sciences/fantastic-numbers-and-where-to-find-them-antonio-padilla-book-review-sharon-ann-holgate |website=TLS |access-date=17 April 2025 |date=9 December 2022}}{{cite podcast |host=Timothy Nguyen |date= 27 September 2023 |title= Antonio Padilla: Fantastic Numbers, Naturalness, and Anthropics in Physics|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJWFTMnfwJU |work=The Cartesian Cafe |publisher= |time= |access-date=17 April 2025}} The book was developed from a series of public lectures delivered by Padilla to raise money for a friend to receive cancer treatment abroad. Topics covered include the theory of Graham's number.{{cite web |title=Using extraordinary numbers in physics to explain the mysteries of the universe |url=https://phys.org/news/2022-05-extraordinary-physics-mysteries-universe.html |website=Phys.org |access-date=21 April 2025 |language=en |date=27 May 2022}}
References
{{reflist}}
Category:21st-century British physicists
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Alumni of Durham University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Padilla, Antonio}}
External links
- [https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/physics/people/antonio.padilla University of Nottingham home page]
- [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt5AfwLFPxWL8KAJKO3WfHhJcWrJfjgfU Numberphile videos]