Garrett Lisi

Garrett Lisi is a theoretical physicist that devised a theory about the universe based on a complex mathematical pattern known as "E8." Lisi's theory, unlike most conventional physical models of the universe, would require only one dimension of time and three of space, unlike alternatives, such as String Theory, which postulate ten or more overlapping dimensions.

1. Born: 1968
2. Alma Mater: University of California, Los Angeles
3. Majors: Physics and mathematics
4. Received a PhD from University of California, San Diego
5. Avid surfer and has appeared in Surfer MagazineSurfer Magazine: One Big Theory: A Q&A with Surfing Scientist Garrett Lisi
6. E-mail: garrett.lisi@gmail.com
7. Published An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything in 2007
8. Appeared at the TED Conference in 2008
9. Lectures occasionally at the University of Hawaii

"I'm a hedonist, but a contemplative one. I want the deep pleasures in life. I want to look into a girl's eyes and know she loves me. I want to understand what others have thought about life, and put the pieces together into a picture that makes sense. I want to paddle as hard as I can, drop into the pit, crank a bottom turn, and pull in under the lip as it throws out -- and hoot like a madman after the ride. I want to figure out the pattern at the heart of the universe. And I want to lay twenty consecutive, fully laid out turns down a groomed black diamond on a carving board. So that's what I do. I try to live my daydreams."Surfer Magazine: One Big Theory: A Q&A with Surfing Scientist Garrett Lisi Garrett Lisi

• Google News: Garrett Lisi
• Wired: Surfer-Physicist A. Garrett Lisi's Unified Theory Leads to Fame, Backlash (February 27, 2008)
• Canada.com: "Just maybe, this surfer knows everything there is to know about physics" (November 15, 2007)
• 60 Second Science: Surfing physicist may have found compelling Theory of Everything, brah (November 14, 2007)
• Telegraph.co.uk: "Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything" (November 14, 2007)
  • Garrett Lisi: "Being poor sucks. It's hard to figure out the secrets of the universe when you're trying to figure out where you and your girlfriend are going to sleep next month."

• Backreaction: A Theoretically Simple Exception of Everything (November 6, 2007)
• The Reference Frame: Garrett Lisi: An exceptionally simple theory of everything (November 7, 2007)
• Backreaction: Garrett Lisi's Inspiration (August 5, 2007)
• Google Blog Search: Garrett Lisi

• Official Site: Garrett Lisi
• arXiv.org: "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" by A. Garrett Lisi
• Wikipedia: An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything
• FQXI.org: "Surfing the Folds of Spacetime"

• Telegraph.co.uk: "Is this the fabric of the universe?" (March 19, 2007)
  • The E8 structure, first "discovered" in 1887, is a 57 dimensional object that Lisi believes may reflect the design of the universe.

• MIT News: Math research team maps E8 (March 18, 2007)
• Wikipedia: E8 (mathematics)