Paul Ginsparg

Why an honorary doctorate? 

May 2017. Physicist Paul Ginsparg receives - together with four other pioneers - an honorary doctorate from VUB.

One step ahead of the future

Paul Ginsparg excels in theoretical high-energy physics, but it is his brainchild arXiv, an open access information disseminator, that lands him in the prizes. At VUB, 2017 is all about breaking down walls. And even more: having the courage to do so.

arXiv.org

A data collection platform created by Ginsparg that has become world-famous in the scientific community.

Ginsparg lowers the barrier between university and society, but also between scientific disciplines. He dares to open up the closed world of academic publications and make it accessible. For VUB, where critical minds that create new perspectives are a bubbling source of inspiration, he is a more-than-deserving honorary doctoral candidate.

Ginsparg has experimented a great deal with his invention in recent years. The basic technology has stood the test of time. But those who want to move forward into the future must also nurture that future. From a world that is constantly changing and evolving without fail, you can expect a sophisticated sequel. Tomorrow looks like today, but, because of all the possibilities, it just takes a little longer. 

About his career

Scientific wind

That Paul Ginsparg is a scientific talent soon becomes clear. He studies at Harvard and Cornell University, where he also diligently works on a doctorate. From 1981 to 1984, Ginsparg is allowed to call himself a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows. This is a group of scholars that Harvard University selects at the beginning of their careers because they have the potential to promote academic wisdom. Between 1986 and 1990 he is a Sloan Foundation Fellow. These fellowships encourage young scientists to conduct fundamental research. Only 126 lucky people get the chance to use this scholarship every year.

Later, Ginsparg works at Harvard and becomes a member of the famous Los Alamos National Laboratory research team. It is 2001 when Paul Ginsparg accepts a position at Cornell University in the faculties of physics and computer science. He publishes numerous articles on, among other things, quantum field theory and quantum gravity.

But he gains his greatest fame with the creation of a document server that allows physicists and other scientists to communicate about their research results. Ginsparg wants to reorganise scientific communication and provide a platform - without too much editorial supervision - for new ideas and interesting, scientific discussions.

Because he has been developing the software in his spare time since 1991, he does not need to take the path of time-consuming funding and approval processes. Hosted at Cornell University, arXiv.org is an interactive supplement to paper publications and is available free of charge worldwide.

Ginsparg is changing the way physics is done. He challenges traditional norms for evaluating and communicating research, thus altering the speed and spread of scientific progress.

Acclaimed physicist

With his free software arXiv.org, he revolutionises the way of working with data.