In theoretical physics, quantum cosmology is a field attempting to study the effect of quantum mechanics on the formation of the universe, or its early evolution, especially just after the Big Bang. Despite many attempts, such as the Wheeler-deWitt equation, the field remains a rather speculative branch of quantum gravity.

An important problem in this field is the origin of physical information in the universe.

Lee Smolin (born 1955) is an American theoretical physicist, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. He is married to Dina Graser, a communications lawyer in Toronto. His brother is David M. Smolin.

Smolin is best known for devising several different approaches to quantum gravity, in particular loop quantum gravity. He advocates that the two primary approaches to quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity and string theory, can be reconciled as different aspects of the same underlying theory. His research interests also include cosmology, elementary particle theory, the foundations of quantum mechanics, and theoretical biology.

Smolin was born in New York City to Michael Smolin, an engineer, and Pauline Smolin, a playwright. His brother, David M. Smolin, became a professor in the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. He was educated at Hampshire College. He received his Ph.D in theoretical physics from Harvard University in 1979.

Andrei Dmitriyevich Linde (Russian: Андрей Дмитриевич Линде; born March 2, 1948) is a Russian-American theoretical physicist and professor of Physics at Stanford University. Dr. Linde is best known for his work on the concept of the inflationary universe. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Moscow State University. In 1975, Linde was awarded a Ph.D. from the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. Among the various awards he's received for his work on inflation, in 2002 he was awarded the Dirac Medal, along with Alan Guth of MIT and Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University.

Linde is best known for proposing "eternal chaotic inflation" to explain a number of problems in cosmology. This variant of cosmic inflation proposes that the false vacuum is eternally inflating in exponential growth powered by repulsive constant random zero point dark energy of negative pressure. This false vacuum is like supersaturated steam in which liquid bubbles of more stable vacuum form with Higgs-Goldstone fields that describe the cohering of most of the pre-inflationary random dark energy into the smooth fabric of curved spacetime. Our universe is only a small causal part of a single bubble, and there are 10^10^10^7 bubbles. In fact, there are 10^10^10^7 of universes like ours on a single bubble which is more like an expanding infinite sheet than a finite spherical surface (suppressing 1 space dimension for ease of visualization).

Simon Saunders (born London, 30 August 1954) is a British philosopher of physics. He is noted for his work on quantum mechanics (particularly the many-worlds interpretation), on identity and indiscernibility in physics, and on structural realism.

Saunders is currently Professor of Philosophy of Physics at the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Linacre College, having moved to Oxford in 1996. He has previously held permanent posts at Harvard University (1990-1996), and temporary or visiting positions at Wolfson College, Oxford (1985–89), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1989-1990), Harvard (2001), École Polytechnique (2004), University of British Columbia (2005), Perimeter Institute (2005), and IMERA (Institute Mediterranean de Recherche Avancees) (2010). He is married to Kalypso Nicolaïdis; they have two children.

Saunders was an early graduate of the Physics and Philosophy undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford. He then studied the part III Mathematics Tripos at the University of Cambridge under Martin Rees, John Polkinghorne, and Peter Goddard, and wrote his PhD at King’s College, London under the supervision of Michael Redhead. The thesis title was ‘Mathematical and Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Field Theory’.

Carlo Rovelli is an Italian physicist who has worked in Italy, the USA, and France. His work is mainly in the field of quantum gravity. He is among the founders of the Loop Quantum Gravity theory.

Carlo Rovelli was born in Verona, Italy, in 1956. In the 1970s he participated in the student political movements in Italian universities. He was involved with the free political radio stations Radio Alice in Bologna and Radio Anguana in Verona, which he helped found. In conjunction with his political activity, he was charged, but later released, for crimes of opinion related to the book Fatti Nostri, which he co-authored with Enrico Palandri, Maurizio Torrealta, and Claudio Piersanti. In 1981 he graduated with a BS/MS in Physics from the University of Bologna, and in 1986 he obtained his PhD at the University of Padova, Italy. He refused military service, which was compulsory in Italy at the time, and was therefore briefly detained in 1987. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Rome and at Yale University. He was on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh from 1990 to 2000. He is currently at the Université de la Méditerranée, in the Centre de Physique Théorique, in Marseille, France. He has also long held the post of Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Pittsburgh.