I am interested in how natural systems manipulate and process information, producing new forms of self-organization.

~ Vijay Balasubramanian, theoretical physicist, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences

In an age where science has become so specialized that even scientists sometimes find it hard to keep up with new developments in their fields, one man stands out as a polymath who travels across disciplines, making fundamental contributions in such diverse fields as black holes, quantum gravity, string theory, machine learning and the informational complexity of the brain.

Vijay Balasubramanian (b. 1969) of the University of Pennsylvania is a physicist, computer scientist and neuroscientist, and member of the prestigious Simons Foundation in New York that supports cutting-edge scientific research. He has made fundamental contributions to the study of the information content of natural systems, including black holes and the physical features that have sculpted the brain. In this video, Balasubramanian talks about his passion for interdisciplinary research and the importance of the humanities as part of a broad educational experience.