Jim Weatherall
  • October 9, 2026

  • Honor recognizes physicists who have made exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise

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James Owen Weatherall, UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor and department chair of logic & philosophy of science, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society. Nominated by his peers through the society’s Forum on History & Philosophy of Physics, Weatherall is recognized for his “substantial contributions to the foundations of classical field theories and the philosophy of physics; distinguished mentorship, leadership, and service to the discipline; and conveying physics to broad public audiences through acclaimed books.”

“I am so pleased and grateful to be honored by the American Physical Society,” says Weatherall. “Philosophy of physics has at times had an awkward relationship with the discipline of physics. I think it is significant that in the past few years, the APS Forum on History of Physics has changed its name to include philosophy and has begun to elect fellows in recognition of their work in philosophy. I am proud to be among the first to be selected since that change.”

A philosopher of physics, science and math, Weatherall’s work focuses on gravitation, cosmology, and the concepts underlying scientific theory development. He has contributed important analyses to clarify the structure of space-time theories and resolve conceptual puzzles in general relativity, Yang-Mills theory, and the philosophy of modern physics.

He’s the author or coauthor of three books: The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Void: The Strange Physics of Nothing (Yale University Press), and The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread (with Cailin O’Connor, Yale University Press). He’s published more than 70 research articles and book chapters, including many in top journals spanning topics in philosophy of science, physics, and mathematics, such as Philosophy of Science, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Communications in Mathematical Physics, Journal of Mathematical Physics, and the Physical Review. He has also written for Scientific American, the Financial Times, USA Today, Slate and many other prominent magazines and newspapers. He has been PI or co-PI on grants totaling more than $3.5 million, over half of which have come from the National Science Foundation.  

His current research projects address foundational questions  in classical and quantum field theories, the philosophy of cosmology, and in emerging philosophical issues related to AI in science and society. He is also writing a scientific biography on John von Neumann, a premiere 20th century mathematician. This past year, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“What has always amazed me about Jim is that he has maintained such a high level of deeply reasoned theoretical contributions across a number of fields, while serving his students, his department and the campus, educating the next generation, launching new programs, experimenting with pedagogy and actively participating in shared governance,” says Bill Maurer, UC Irvine social sciences dean. “He is quite simply a marvel. All while being a collegial presence no matter the forum. We are all grateful for and proud of his achievements.”

In addition to research, Weatherall serves as president of the Philosophy of Physics Society and editor-in-chief of Philosophy of Science, the official journal of the Philosophy of Science Association, for which he also serves as a member of the Governing Board.

In the classroom, he teaches introductory courses in philosophy of science, including for the campuswide honors collegium. He also offers regular graduate seminars, usually focused on technical topics in the philosophy of physics. Across campus, he serves as chair elect-secretary of the Academic Senate and an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Cosmology, the Engineering+Society Institute on AI (ProperAI), the Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy, the Center for Theoretical Behavioral Science, and the Center for Socially Engaged Philosophy. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Mathematics.

Weatherall earned his undergraduate degree in physics and philosophy and master’s in physics from Harvard, and his Ph.D. in logic & philosophy of science from UC Irvine. While completing his doctorate – during which time he was named the Lauds & Laurels Outstanding Graduate Student - he simultaneously finished a master’s in fine arts in creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson, and a Ph.D. in mathematics and physics from at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He joined the UCI faculty in 2012 and has served in various departmental leadership roles before being appointed chair in 2022.

Weatherall is among 153 scientists – including UC Irvine colleague Juan Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux, professor of physics and astronomy – from around the country to be inducted into this year’s cohort of American Physical Society fellows. No more than .5% of the APS membership can elected in a given year.

 

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