Dr William Simpson MPhys (StAnd) MPhil (Cantab) PhD (StAnd) PhD (Cantab)
Junior Research Fellow
Wolfson College, Cambridge
United Kingdom
Biography
PhD in Philosophy (University of Cambridge, 2020)
PhD in Physics (University of St Andrews, 2014)
MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science (University of Cambridge, 2016)
MPhys in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics (University of St Andrews, 2014)
Biography
William Simpson is a Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of St Andrews. His research interests span philosophy, physics and theology.
William holds doctorates in both philosophy and physics. He obtained a PhD in philosophy at the University of Cambridge (2016-20), supported by a full doctoral scholarship from Peterhouse, and wrote a thesis on the metaphysics of science entitled, "What's the matter? Toward a neo-Aristotelian ontology of nature", for which he received an Expanded Reason Award. Prior to pursuit of analytic philosophy, he obtained a PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of St Andrews (2010-14), supported by a SUPA Prize full doctoral studentship, and wrote a thesis entitled, "Surprises in Theoretical Casimir Physics", for which he was awarded the Springer Thesis Prize. He was awarded the Cardinal Mercier Prize in international philosophy in 2021.
Honoraria Titles
Major Prizes
- Cardinal Mercier Prize in International Philosophy 2021 (jointly awarded by The Institut supérieur de philosophie (ISP) of UCLouvain and the Hoger Instituut Voor Wijsbegeerte (HIW) of KU Leuven)
- Expanded Reason Award, 2020 (selected from hundreds of applicants submitting in English, Spanish, Italian and French, and jointly awarded by Universidad Francisco de Vitoria and The Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation)
- Springer Thesis Prize 2014 (nominated by The Weizmann Institute of Science for an outstanding doctoral thesis in physics, and awarded by Springer)
Religion, Philosophy & History Interests
Christianity-Catholicism, History of Science, Naturalism, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion
Science & Technology Interests
Biology, Cosmology, Neuroscience, Physics
Website
https://cambridge.academia.edu/WilliamSimpson
Publications
Surprises in Theoretical Casimir Physics
Springer 2014
Neo-Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Theology of Nature
Routledge 2021
Editors:William Simpson, Robert Koons, James Orr
Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science
Routledge 2017
Editors:William Simpson, Robert Koons, Nicholas Teh
Forces of the Quantum Vacuum: an introduction to Casimir Physics
World Scientific 2015
Editors:William Simpson, Ulf Leonhardt
From Quantum Physics to Classical Metaphysics
Routledge 2021
Editors:William Simpson, Robert Koons, James Orr
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003125860-3/quantum-physics-classical-metaphysics-william-simpson
Toppling the pyramids - Physics without physical state monism
Springer 2022
Editors:Anna Marmodoro, Christopher Austin, Andrea Roselli
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-92486-7_2
