Stephon Alexander

Physicist and Musician Stephon Alexander has straddled the two worlds of theoretical physics and jazz music over the last two decades. He obtained his Bachelors of Science from Haverford College and Doctorate from Brown and was a research physicist at Imperial College, London and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University.

On the physics front Alexander’s works on the connection between the smallest and largest entities in the universe pushing Einstein’s theory of curved space-time to extremes, beyond the big bang with sub atomic phenomena. Alexander is a specialist in the field of string cosmology, where the physics of superstrings are applied to address longstanding questions in cosmology. In 2001, he co-invented the model of inflation based on higher dimensional hypersurfaces in string theory called D-Branes. In such models the early universe emerged from the destruction of a higher dimensional D-brane which ignites a period of rapid expansion of space often referred to as cosmic inflation.

Alexander is also a Jazz saxophonist and has been mentored by Ornette Coleman and Will Calhoun. He has expanded his repertoire to an avant-garde electronic medium as seen in a critically acclaimed Album with RIOUX entitled Here Comes Now. Alexander recently completed his first trade book that delves into the secret link between music and the structure of the universe, The Jazz of Physics.

As a professor, now at Brown University, Alexander has spent most of his career being an advocate of first generation and historically underrepresented groups in the sciences. He was formerly the Director of Dartmouth College’s EE Just STEM Scholars Program. He also does volunteer public speaking in inner city schools and teaches mathematics in prisons and sees these activities as essential parts of his scholarship.

https://stephonalexander.org/