Marcelo Gleiser

Marcelo Gleiser

Theoretical Physicist

Marcelo Gleiser

Marcelo Gleiser is a professor of natural philosophy, physics, and astronomy at Dartmouth College. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a recipient of the Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House and NSF, and was awarded the 2019 Templeton Prize. Gleiser has authored five books and is the co-founder of 13.8, where he writes about science and culture with physicist Adam Frank.

Illustration of two connected neurons with green and orange bodies, featuring detailed blue nuclei, against a black grid background.
A fresh view of intelligence — spanning living systems from bacteria to human civilization — challenges the idea that it’s merely problem-solving.
A robotic hand and a human hand reach towards each other against a dark background.
The preservation and celebration of life, and not greed, should be our primary decision-making value. 
A digital rendering of a planet partially illuminated by a nearby star, with a galaxy visible in the dark space background.
An interview with Lisa Kaltenegger, the founding director of the Carl Sagan Institute, about the modern quest to answer an age-old question: "Are we alone in the cosmos?"
A sequence showing the phases of a solar eclipse, culminating in totality, against a dark background.
Total eclipses are a product of a strange and almost eerie cosmic coincidence — one that makes Earth an even rarer world in the galaxy and, by proxy, in the Universe.
Abstract representation of a cosmic event with a burst of particles emanating from a central point, blending astrophysical imagery with geometric designs.
The "first cause" problem may forever remain unsolved, as it doesn’t fit with the way we do science.
A statue of a woman with a red blindfold on her head, symbolizing the human experience in the realm of science.
Here's the case for why science can't keep ignoring human experience.
An aerial view of an iceberg in antarctica.
13.8 columnist Marcelo Gleiser reflects on his recent voyage to Earth's last wild continent.
An image of a spiral galaxy in space.
In 1924, Edwin Hubble found proof that the Milky Way isn't the only galaxy in the Universe.
An image of a red light shining on a dark background.
Millennia ago, philosophers like Anaximander grasped that nature is the ultimate recycler.
An image of a star in space.
From how life emerged on Earth to why we dream, these unanswered questions continue to perplex scientists.
An artist's impression of a group of planets in space.
Astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets — very few of which resemble Earth.
Two clocks displaying the accurate time on a blue background.
Our intuitive understanding of time is very different from a physicist's understanding of time. How do we reconcile these views?
An image of a nebula surrounded by stars, fine-tuned for life within its cosmic expanse.
Two of the answers add a dimension to physics that doesn’t belong there. Maybe we could call it "astrotheology."
An image of a spiral galaxy in space.
We need a hypothesis that accounts for both the fine-tuning of physics for life but also the arbitrariness and gratuitous suffering we find in the world.
A little alien talking on a telephone.
"If we find just one other example of biology out there, then life is not an accident."
A blue circle with bokeh lights around it.
From ancient Greek cosmology to today's mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, explore the relentless quest to understand the Universe's invisible forces.
Two enigmatic jellyfish dancing in the dark.
The best answer we have is, "Life is matter with intentionality."
An artist's impression of a group of planets in space detected via the doppler method.
Finding a tiny planet around bright stars dozens or hundreds of light-years from Earth is extremely difficult.
Two starfish on the beach at sunset.
Scientists may have detected the somewhat smelly chemical dimethyl sulfide on a planet 120 light-years from Earth.