Sabine Hossenfelder

Extracted Attributes

• Awards

  YouTube Silver Creator Award (Silver Play Button)

• Gender

  Female

• Full Name

  Sabine Karin Doris Hossenfelder

• Occupation

  Theoretical Physicist, Science Communicator, Writer, YouTuber

• Citizenship

  Germany

• Date of Birth

  1976-09-18

• Place of Birth

  Frankfurt, Germany

• YouTube Channel

  Science Without the Gobbledygook

• Doctoral Advisor

  Horst Stöcker

• Fields of Research

  Quantum Gravity, Dark Matter, Foundations of Physics, Black Holes

• YouTube Subscribers

  1.79 million (as of September 2026; over 1.7 million by 2025)

Timeline

• Sabine Hossenfelder was born in Frankfurt, Germany. (Source: Wikidata)

  1976-09-18

• Completed her doctorate in theoretical physics at Goethe University Frankfurt under the supervision of Horst Stöcker. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2003-01-01

• Launched her popular-science blog, Backreaction. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2006-01-01

• Published her first trade book, 'Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray', critiquing aesthetic bias in fundamental physics. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2018-06-12

• Delivered a lecture at the Royal Institution titled 'Is Dark Matter Real?'. (Source: Royal Institution)

  2021-06-10

• Published her second book, 'Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions'. (Source: Wikipedia / Wikidata)

  2022-08-09

• Her YouTube channel surpassed 1.79 million subscribers. (Source: Summary / Wikipedia extract)

  2026-09-01

Sabine Hossenfelder

Sabine Karin Doris Hossenfelder is a German science communicator, writer, and YouTuber who previously worked as an academic theoretical physicist. After working as an academic physicist for two decades, Hossenfelder rose to prominence on YouTube in the early 2020s. By September 2026, her channel had 1.79 million subscribers. Hossenfelder is known for her controversial criticism of modern physics research.

Web Search Results

• Sabine Hossenfelder - Wikipedia

  Sabine Karin Doris Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist, science communicator, writer, and YouTuber. After working as an academic physicist for two decades, Hossenfelder rose to prominence on YouTube in the early 2020s, gaining over 1.7 million subscribers by 2025. Hossenfelder is known for her controversial criticism of modern physics research. ## Early life and education [edit] Hossenfelder was born in Frankfurt. Hossenfelder initially earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics at Goethe University Frankfurt. Hossenfelder later earned a doctorate from the same university in theoretical physics in 2003; her dissertation, supervised by Horst Stöcker, studied microscopic black-hole production in models with large extra dimensions. ## Academic career [edit] [...] Hossenfelder is known for her strong criticism of modern academic physics research. As of 2025, according to Jonathan Jarry, her output criticizing modern academic research generally garnered more popular engagement than her more educational efforts. She has written op-eds in The Guardian and The New York Times critiquing particle physics and the search for hypothesized particles using colliders. In her videos, she criticizes trends in particle physics research and accuses some of her colleagues of misleading the public, wasting research funds on "useless" papers, or lacking academic integrity. Critics contend that her presentation of these topics is exaggerated and misleading, and may encourage conspiratorial thinking and undermine both the perceived legitimacy of physics as a discipline [...] Hossenfelder has published research on topics such as quantum gravity, black holes, and dark matter. ## Public engagement [edit] Hossenfelder has written the popular-science blog Backreaction since 2006 and has contributed articles to Nature "Nature (journal)"), New Scientist and Quanta Magazine. Her first trade book, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray (Basic Books, 2018), argues that an aesthetic preference for mathematically "beautiful" theories has hindered progress in fundamental physics. Her follow-up, Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions, was published by Viking in 2022, covering topics such as

• Sabine Hossenfelder | Frankfurt Institute for Advanced ...

  Sabine Hossenfelder is an academic researcher from Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. The author has contributed to research in topics: Quantum

• Sabine Hossenfelder - Closer To Truth

  Login Join # Sabine Hossenfelder ## Physicist and Science Writer, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Episodes Topic Series Curated Playlists CTT Chats Books Sabine Hossenfelder is an author and theoretical physicist who researches quantum gravity. She is creator and producer of the popular YouTube channel “Science Without the Gobbledygook”. [...] Hossenfelder is presently a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany, and has published more than eighty research articles about the foundations of physics, including quantum gravity, physics beyond the standard model, dark matter, and quantum foundations. She has written about physics for a broad audience for fifteen years and is the creator of the popular YouTube channel “Science without the Gobbledygook.” Her writing has been published in New Scientist, Scientific American, The New York Times, and The Guardian(London). Her first book, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, appeared in 2018. [...] playlist # Women in Philosophy and Physics/Cosmology Curated, Topic Series 11 videos 1:38:00 Watch ## CTT Chats Cover image for Sabine Hossenfelder on Physics and the Big Questions Sabine Hossenfelder talks about if the past exists, how the universe began and how it will end, information, math as reality, time, and consciousness. She also discusses her... video # Sabine Hossenfelder on Physics and the Big Questions CTT Chat Watch ## Books ### Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions Buy the Book

• Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder

  Sabine Hossenfelder is a Research Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. Her research is looking for the best way to search for

• Is Dark Matter Real? - with Sabine Hossenfelder | Royal Institution

  Sabine Hossenfelder is a physicist and science writer. She is currently a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. Sabine's research focuses on the foundations of physics. But her interests extend to the philosophy and sociology of science. Sabine partly works as science writer. Her writing has been published, among others, in Scientific American, New Scientist, Nautilus, Aeon, and the New York Times. Sabine has an active YouTube Channel dedicated to communicating current science news and scientific methods in general. This talk was recorded on 10 June 2021. Image credit: Illustris Collaboration [...] Become an Ri Member # Is Dark Matter Real? - with Sabine Hossenfelder What is the evidence for and against dark matter? Sabine argues for the superfluidity of dark matter that allows for a suitable combination of dark matter and a modification of general relativity. 00:50:32 What is the evidence for and against dark matter? Sabine argues for the superfluidity of dark matter that allows for a suitable combination of dark matter and a modification of general relativity. Watch the Q&A: Explore more of Sabine's ideas via her book: Or YouTube channel: For more than 80 years, astrophysicists have collected data that suggests 80% of matter in the universe is 'dark'. These observations have led them to believe that it is made up of an as yet unknown substance.

• Award

  Silver Play Button

• Image

  

• Gender

  female

• Educated At

  Goethe University Frankfurt

• Instance Of

  Q5

• Occupation

  scientist

• Citizenship

  Germany

• Date Of Birth

  9/18/1976

• Notable Work

  Existential Physics

• Place Of Birth

  Frankfurt