Diederik Aerts (born April 17, 1953) is a Belgian

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

, professor at Brussels Free University (

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

- VUB) and founding director of the Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies (

CLEA Clea is a female given name. Clea may refer to: People with the given name * Clea DuVall (born 1977), actress * Clea Hoyte (born 1981), West Indies cricketer * Clea Koff (born 1972), British-born American forensic anthropologist and author * ...

). He is best known for his work in

quantum foundations Quantum foundations is a discipline of science that seeks to understand the most counter-intuitive aspects of quantum theory, reformulate it and even propose new generalizations thereof. Contrary to other physical theories, such as general relat ...

and quantum cognition.

Biography

Diederik Aerts was born in

Heist-op-den-Berg Heist-op-den-Berg () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises Heist-op-den-Berg proper (including the hamlets: Heist-Goor, Heist-Station, Zonderschot, Heist-Centrum and Bruggeneinde), the villages o ...

, Belgium, on April 17, 1953. He attended secondary school at 'Koninklijk Atheneum' in

. He received his MSc in

Mathematical Physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

in 1975 from Brussels Free University. For his doctorate he worked at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

with Constantin Piron on quantum foundations, studying the description of compound quantum entities within the axiomatic approach to quantum physics developed by Josef-Maria Jauch and collaborators. He obtained his PhD in theoretical physics in 1981 from Brussels Free University with Jean Reignier. In 1976 he started working as a researcher for the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research ( NFWO), where in 1985 he became a tenured researcher. In 1995 he became director of the VUB's Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies (

) and in 2000 he was appointed professor at the VUB. From 1990, he has been a board member of the 'Worldviews group', founded by the late philosopher Leo Apostel and from 1997 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the international ISI and

Springer Nature Springer Nature or the Springer Nature Group is a German-British academic publishing company created by the May 2015 merger of Springer Science+Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and Macm ...

journal ''

Foundations of Science Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

''. He was the scientific and artistic coordinator of the 'Einstein meets Magritte' conference, where some of the world's leading scientists and artists gathered to reflect about science, nature, human action and society. In 2020 he received the Prigogine Award, for his work in the research domain called quantum cognition, where quantum structures are used to model aspects of human cognition and decision.

References

Primary

Secondary

External links

Homepage
at Brussels Free University
Homepage of the Worldview Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aerts, Diederik Living people 1953 births Belgian physicists Theoretical physicists People from Heist-op-den-Berg