Reuben Reflections: On being the first DPhil student to graduate

Switching from physics to its philosophy, and what it means to create traditions at Oxford's youngest college

Meet Dr Daniel Grimmer, whose academic journey has led him to explore some of the deepest questions about reality. And while having a doctorate conferred is a milestone in every academic’s life, Daniel is also the first Reuben student to graduate a DPhil degree.

As a researcher, he sits on the crossroad that is the philosophy of physics, assessing deceptively difficult ideas of what actually exists (in the context of space and time), and what may instead be a projection of our own ways of thinking and cultural inheritance.

We took time with him on his graduation day to discuss his work, his unique position as Reuben’s first DPhil graduate, and what it was like to be part of our first cohort.

So Daniel, the first person to ever graduate with a DPhil from Reuben College, how does it feel?

It's a tremendous honour to hold any title of “first” at Oxford given its long history. It was a wonderful experience to be at the forefront of something so new at such an old place. I will look back on this as a very fond period in my life.

And what did your DPhil itself focus on?

I worked on the philosophy of physics, trying to understand what our best theories are actually telling us about the world. Our best theories are, at the end of the day, just a pile of mathematics. I'm figuring out which parts of our theories are reflecting things which are objectively out there. I’m also looking at which parts we are bringing to the table as we do the act of representing things with our mathematics.

What were your influences and motivation behind doing this as your project?

I did a PhD in Physics before actually coming here to do my second one! Like many people, when you get interested in physics, I think you're secretly interested in metaphysics (the study of reality and existence). You want to know what there is, what it's like, and how it all fits together.

Physics will give you some ways towards answering those questions. At a certain point, physicists stick closer to experiments. But there are lots of interesting and rich questions past that, which is why I felt I wanted to go on to do philosophy.

And what impact would you like your work to have?

I would ultimately like to help physicists with the way they're trying to think about things. As a physicist, you don't always have the toolset to engage in real philosophical analysis about some of the very tricky conceptual issues you deal with on the frontline.

So, it’s good to have a philosophy perspective on them. I'm hoping to bring some new skills to the table.

Back to the start: Reuben's first years

Let’s cast your mind back to the beginning of your time here. What was your first experience in that first cohort of Reuben students?

Even before we met, all the students entered into a WhatsApp group together and we were just chatting about what the mascot should be. We had a bunch of talks, just coming up with all the all the different aspects of what Reuben would be like.

All the other colleges come with traditions, long traditions, but we get to make them. We got to be the first people on the ground to do Dining with Dinosaurs (DwD). It was really a great community who could start to build something that's going to last a long time.

You mentioned Tuesday Talks/DwD, do you remember any specific talks that stood out to you?

Some of them about climate change were very, very impactful. At that time, DwD was held in the Natural History Museum, and it was surreal to be hearing all this about the environment and then sit just below the dinosaurs in the exhibit. I brought lots of friends in to try and show off a great, great environment.

My further highlight would just be the wonderful people and the great social life. It’s very good to have all these other brilliant, ambitious, smart people around and I couldn't ask for a better collection of people.

And if you could describe Reuben in three words, what would they be?

Beautiful. Ambitious. Significant.