Joseph Conlon
@josephpconlon.bsky.social
Physicist (string theory), writer and poet (Origins:The Cosmos in Verse, Oneworld Publications, Nov 2024). New College, Oxford; writing represented by The Wylie Agency.
Sad to hear that Alasdair McIntyre has died. I read `After Virtue' as an undergraduate and it permanently influenced the way I view the world and think about ethics, politics and religion. A truly great book.
May 23, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Sad to hear that Alasdair McIntyre has died. I read `After Virtue' as an undergraduate and it permanently influenced the way I view the world and think about ethics, politics and religion. A truly great book.
New paper today! With Noelia Sanchez-Gonzalez,
@ProfEdCopeland
and Ed Hardy
arxiv.org/abs/2505.14187
We find that a superstring phase -- 75% energy density in fundamental strings -- is an attractor in post-inflationary phase of scalar rolling down exponential potential. 1/3
@ProfEdCopeland
and Ed Hardy
arxiv.org/abs/2505.14187
We find that a superstring phase -- 75% energy density in fundamental strings -- is an attractor in post-inflationary phase of scalar rolling down exponential potential. 1/3
Dynamical Systems and Superstring Phases in the Early Universe
We study the string theory dynamics of the volume scalar rolling down an exponential potential during the period between inflation and reheating, in a background of cosmic superstring loops. In the co...
arxiv.org
May 21, 2025 at 7:15 AM
New paper today! With Noelia Sanchez-Gonzalez,
@ProfEdCopeland
and Ed Hardy
arxiv.org/abs/2505.14187
We find that a superstring phase -- 75% energy density in fundamental strings -- is an attractor in post-inflationary phase of scalar rolling down exponential potential. 1/3
@ProfEdCopeland
and Ed Hardy
arxiv.org/abs/2505.14187
We find that a superstring phase -- 75% energy density in fundamental strings -- is an attractor in post-inflationary phase of scalar rolling down exponential potential. 1/3
Perfect equations are like perfect poems: they both exhibit maximal Kolmogorov complexity.
This is also why good notation is to mathematics as the canon is to literature.
This is also why good notation is to mathematics as the canon is to literature.
May 16, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Perfect equations are like perfect poems: they both exhibit maximal Kolmogorov complexity.
This is also why good notation is to mathematics as the canon is to literature.
This is also why good notation is to mathematics as the canon is to literature.
Reposted by Joseph Conlon
Had an enjoyable night last night at @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social hosting 2 science & poetry themed events, including being in conversation with @josephpconlon.bsky.social & @robinince.bsky.social. Thank you @annasaund.bsky.social for inviting me & @paulawhitcher.bsky.social for some of the photos.
May 10, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Had an enjoyable night last night at @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social hosting 2 science & poetry themed events, including being in conversation with @josephpconlon.bsky.social & @robinince.bsky.social. Thank you @annasaund.bsky.social for inviting me & @paulawhitcher.bsky.social for some of the photos.
The new Pope, patristics and the Big Bang.
Leo XIV is an Augustinian. Augustine's discussion of time (Book XI of both Confessions & City of God) is brilliant and prophetic (read them!): 'the world was not created in time but with time'.
We live in spacetime -- not space and time.
Leo XIV is an Augustinian. Augustine's discussion of time (Book XI of both Confessions & City of God) is brilliant and prophetic (read them!): 'the world was not created in time but with time'.
We live in spacetime -- not space and time.
May 9, 2025 at 10:09 AM
The new Pope, patristics and the Big Bang.
Leo XIV is an Augustinian. Augustine's discussion of time (Book XI of both Confessions & City of God) is brilliant and prophetic (read them!): 'the world was not created in time but with time'.
We live in spacetime -- not space and time.
Leo XIV is an Augustinian. Augustine's discussion of time (Book XI of both Confessions & City of God) is brilliant and prophetic (read them!): 'the world was not created in time but with time'.
We live in spacetime -- not space and time.
This Friday in Cheltenham -- do come along if you are nearby.
📆 My May Events:
📚 08/05 @susiedent.com & 09/05 @marianne-brown.bsky.social: Stratford Lit Fest
🪐 09/05 @josephpconlon.bsky.social & then @robinince.bsky.social : @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social
🚀 17/05 Talk at John Moore Museum
🌅 22/05 Mark Cummings at Museum in the Park
jodurrant.co.uk
📚 08/05 @susiedent.com & 09/05 @marianne-brown.bsky.social: Stratford Lit Fest
🪐 09/05 @josephpconlon.bsky.social & then @robinince.bsky.social : @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social
🚀 17/05 Talk at John Moore Museum
🌅 22/05 Mark Cummings at Museum in the Park
jodurrant.co.uk
May 6, 2025 at 10:12 AM
This Friday in Cheltenham -- do come along if you are nearby.
Nominative determinism
April 3, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Nominative determinism
Next Friday I am talking at the Oxford literary festival: physics, poetry and the intersection of the two. Tickets available from oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...
Origins: The Cosmos in Verse | Oxford Literary Festival
Joseph Conlon - Origins: The Cosmos in Verse
oxfordliteraryfestival.org
March 28, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Next Friday I am talking at the Oxford literary festival: physics, poetry and the intersection of the two. Tickets available from oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...
Reposted by Joseph Conlon
Here's the list of events! @ruthpadel.bsky.social opens the festival. Among the many highlights are @robinince.bsky.social, Michael Simmons Roberts, Robert Seatter, @josephpconlon.bsky.social, Sean Borodale, Fiona Benson, & the 15th Festival Slam.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
March 23, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Here's the list of events! @ruthpadel.bsky.social opens the festival. Among the many highlights are @robinince.bsky.social, Michael Simmons Roberts, Robert Seatter, @josephpconlon.bsky.social, Sean Borodale, Fiona Benson, & the 15th Festival Slam.
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
Jewel amongst dross.
(one for the physicists and mathematicians)
(one for the physicists and mathematicians)
February 10, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Jewel amongst dross.
(one for the physicists and mathematicians)
(one for the physicists and mathematicians)
Possibly the only sonnet on Dirac's Principles of Quantum Mechanics
February 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Possibly the only sonnet on Dirac's Principles of Quantum Mechanics
Sonnets on Dirac's book Principles of Quantum Mechanics are not in the swampland. Hear me read one this afternoon.
Do you want to listen to ten poems on science? Thu 30th Jan, 2pm UK time.
Register for the Brilliant Poetry reading here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
Register for the Brilliant Poetry reading here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
The Brilliant Poetry - Inaugural Reading
Join us to experience how poetry brings the wonder of science to life - uniting creativity and discovery across borders.
bit.ly
January 30, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Sonnets on Dirac's book Principles of Quantum Mechanics are not in the swampland. Hear me read one this afternoon.
Thanks to my wonderful grad students (especially Martin) for this cake for my birthday today!
January 29, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Thanks to my wonderful grad students (especially Martin) for this cake for my birthday today!
Do you want to listen to ten poems on science? Thu 30th Jan, 2pm UK time.
Register for the Brilliant Poetry reading here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
Register for the Brilliant Poetry reading here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
The Brilliant Poetry - Inaugural Reading
Join us to experience how poetry brings the wonder of science to life - uniting creativity and discovery across borders.
bit.ly
January 28, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Do you want to listen to ten poems on science? Thu 30th Jan, 2pm UK time.
Register for the Brilliant Poetry reading here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
Register for the Brilliant Poetry reading here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
Physics is eternal. Literature and poetry are near-eternal. Don't obsess about political news. Read good books (such as mine). linktr.ee/josephconlon
Joseph Conlon | Linktree
Academic and writer. Origins: The Cosmos in Verse (2024)
linktr.ee
January 24, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Physics is eternal. Literature and poetry are near-eternal. Don't obsess about political news. Read good books (such as mine). linktr.ee/josephconlon
Next week on 30th Jan I will be reading (online) as part of the The Brilliant's science in verse competition.
Free tickets available here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
Free tickets available here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
The Brilliant Poetry - Inaugural Reading
Join us to experience how poetry brings the wonder of science to life - uniting creativity and discovery across borders.
bit.ly
January 21, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Next week on 30th Jan I will be reading (online) as part of the The Brilliant's science in verse competition.
Free tickets available here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
Free tickets available here
bit.ly/brilliantpoe...
Beautiful on a cold winter morning, as for the last 600 years.
January 2, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Beautiful on a cold winter morning, as for the last 600 years.
An admissions interview question from this year (I never reuse questions). Consider the sequence
x, x^x, x^(x^x), x^(x^(x^x)),.....
For which values of x>0 does this sequence converge?
x, x^x, x^(x^x), x^(x^(x^x)),.....
For which values of x>0 does this sequence converge?
December 20, 2024 at 8:44 AM
An admissions interview question from this year (I never reuse questions). Consider the sequence
x, x^x, x^(x^x), x^(x^(x^x)),.....
For which values of x>0 does this sequence converge?
x, x^x, x^(x^x), x^(x^(x^x)),.....
For which values of x>0 does this sequence converge?
Great fun talking to the one and only
@drbriankeating.bsky.social on his Into The Impossible podcast about poetry, my book Origins, string theory and string theory alternatives, science communication and Whitman or Feynman.
As my son says, like and subscribe. Link in reply.
@drbriankeating.bsky.social on his Into The Impossible podcast about poetry, my book Origins, string theory and string theory alternatives, science communication and Whitman or Feynman.
As my son says, like and subscribe. Link in reply.
December 16, 2024 at 7:24 PM
Great fun talking to the one and only
@drbriankeating.bsky.social on his Into The Impossible podcast about poetry, my book Origins, string theory and string theory alternatives, science communication and Whitman or Feynman.
As my son says, like and subscribe. Link in reply.
@drbriankeating.bsky.social on his Into The Impossible podcast about poetry, my book Origins, string theory and string theory alternatives, science communication and Whitman or Feynman.
As my son says, like and subscribe. Link in reply.
Happy to see Origins reviewed in Nature Astronomy
December 13, 2024 at 8:24 AM
Happy to see Origins reviewed in Nature Astronomy
(For the physicists): spotted in the fiction section of the bookshop.
December 12, 2024 at 3:14 PM
(For the physicists): spotted in the fiction section of the bookshop.
One of those days where the absence of an arXiv listing reminds me of American public holidays exist
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.
November 29, 2024 at 8:38 AM
One of those days where the absence of an arXiv listing reminds me of American public holidays exist
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.
Britain 1906: confident, manly, imperial, assured. No idea what was coming.
November 27, 2024 at 12:34 PM
Britain 1906: confident, manly, imperial, assured. No idea what was coming.
New online catalogue for the 100,000+ items from 11th century onwards in New College library (replacing a printed list from 1974)
archives.new.ox.ac.uk
archives.new.ox.ac.uk
Archive Catalogue
archives.new.ox.ac.uk
November 25, 2024 at 10:44 AM
New online catalogue for the 100,000+ items from 11th century onwards in New College library (replacing a printed list from 1974)
archives.new.ox.ac.uk
archives.new.ox.ac.uk
The History of the Universe youtube channel is one of the absolute best sources of serious scientific documentaries.
Happy to have done another script for them, on black holes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgu3...
Happy to have done another script for them, on black holes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgu3...
What Is Inside A Black Hole?
YouTube video by History of the Universe
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2024 at 8:49 AM
The History of the Universe youtube channel is one of the absolute best sources of serious scientific documentaries.
Happy to have done another script for them, on black holes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgu3...
Happy to have done another script for them, on black holes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgu3...