Adam Brown

Adam Brown is a physicist whose work spans cosmology, quantum gravity and AI research. He proposed a compact-dimension inflation model in 2008 and coauthored a paper on eternal inflation in 2011. With four collaborators, he proposed the complexity-action conjecture in 2015; their 2016 publication argued that black holes produce complexity at the fastest rate allowed by physical laws. Before joining Google in 2018, he studied physics and philosophy at Oxford, earned a PhD at Columbia, and held physics appointments at Princeton and Stanford. As of October 2026, he leads Blueshift and contributes to Gemini at Google DeepMind, holds a Stanford Physics visiting appointment through April 2027, and gave a Perimeter Institute colloquium on AI science and reasoning in June 2026.

Now at: Google DeepMind and Stanford University
Links: Website

Timeline

2008

Inflation from a compact dimension

In 2008, he proposes an inflation model in which a compact extra dimension lets a single true-vacuum bubble reheat the universe by colliding with itself.
2011

Populating the whole landscape

In 2011, with Alex Dahlen, he argues that eternal inflation populates the landscape: every de Sitter vacuum can transition to every other despite obstacles and intervening anti-de Sitter sinks.
2015–2016

Complexity Equals Action

With Daniel A. Roberts, Leonard Susskind, Brian Swingle and Ying Zhao, he proposes in 2015 that a holographic state's quantum complexity is dual to the action of a Wheeler-DeWitt patch. Published in 2016 as Holographic Complexity Equals Bulk Action?, the work links gravitational action with complexity and argues that black holes produce complexity at the fastest rate allowed by physical laws.
By 2018

Oxford and physics appointments

Before joining Google in 2018, he studies physics and philosophy at Oxford, earns a PhD at Columbia, and holds academic appointments in the physics departments at Princeton and Stanford.
2018

Joining Google

He joins Google in 2018.
May 2026–April 2027

Stanford Physics visiting term

He holds a visiting appointment in Stanford Physics from May 2026 through April 2027.
June 2026

AI and the future of physics

In June 2026, he gives a Perimeter Institute colloquium that reviews teaching large language models to do science and reasoning and considers their future in theoretical physics.
As of October 2026

Leading Blueshift at Google DeepMind

As of October 2026, he leads Blueshift, a Google DeepMind research team focused on advancing AI's scientific and reasoning capabilities, and is a core contributor to Gemini.