• Jill North
  • Jill North
  • Professor
  • Specialties: Philosophy of Physics
  • Office: 106 Somerset St - 530
  • Phone: (848) 932-0414

 

   

Links

Biography

I got my BA in physics and philosophy at Yale and my PhD in philosophy at Rutgers. I have previously taught at NYU (as a Bersoff fellow), Yale, and Cornell.

I work primarily in philosophy of physics (across a range of theories, including statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, relativity, classical mechanics, and quantum mechanics). I also have interests in metaphysics, especially the metaphysics of physics, and philosophy of science. At the moment I am particularly interested in issues surrounding the idea of structure in physics and mathematics, and the related issue of the equivalence of different formulations of a physical theory (such as different formulations of classical mechanics). I am also thinking about how to best understand the traditional debate about spacetime ontology—the question of whether spacetime exists, over and above ordinary material objects.