Born June 7th, 1984 to Gloria and Larry Wall (yes, that one), I am the second of four sibilings. In June 2012 I married my wife Nicole, who is a college writing instructor, quilter, and aspiring fantasy/sci-fi novelist.
I'm a theoretical physicist who works on black hole thermodynamics and quantum gravity. I want to know what ingredients space and time are made of, and how it is that a world like ours can emerge from them. My dissertation research confirmed that black holes obey the second law of thermodynamics. Since then, I have done a lot of work on the holographic principle, the idea that a gravitational system can be equivalent to a system with a lower number of spacetime dimensions.
I am currently a Lecturer at DAMTP at Cambridge University. (If you want to apply to work with me as a graduate student, please read the information on my Departmental home page.)
I'm also a Christian. That means that I believe that God loves everybody, including the person reading this right now—no matter what you look like; or what you've said, thought, or done. Instead of believing in karma (you get what you deserve), I believe in grace (giving freely without worrying about what people deserve). This means that it's my job to love other people like Jesus did, and to try to be holy like he is holy. Doubtless I've fallen short of this in many ways, and for that I ask you to please forgive me!
It also means that I'm willing to accept that sometimes we can best approach the truth by contemplating head-scratching paradoxes, like God combining three "persons" in one being, or Jesus sharing our human condition while also being fully one with the Father. If you're curious how it's possible to fit science and theology together, and why I think my beliefs are supported by good historical evidence, I've written a lot about that on my blog, Undivided Looking.
(The opinions I express on my blog or here are my own personal views, not that of the institutions I work for.)
Slides for a talk I gave about Fine Tuning and its philosophical implications.
Education
B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College (Santa Fe), a tiny liberal arts college in which all subjects are studied using primary sources and discussion classes. 2001-2005
I grew up in New Life Church of the Nazarene and still attend when I'm in California.
Everyone is always welcome to come, regardless of what you currently believe!
