Kouneiher Joseph

Joseph Kouneiher

Joseph Kouneiher is a French mathematical physicist. He is a Professor of Mathematical Physics and Engineering Sciences at the University of Nice SA, France. His research focuses primarily on the foundations of science, and his work in the fields of quantum field theory, quantum gravity, string theory, and conformal field theory is widely cited and well recognized. He holds several doctorates in mathematical physics, as well as in epistemology and the history of science.

Together with his colleague Frédéric Hélein, he developed Hermann Weyl’s Hamiltonian formalism for quantum field theories — what is now known as the covariant Hamiltonian formalism for the calculus of variations with several variables. The main goal of this approach is to construct a Hamiltonian theory of fields that is consistent with the principles of relativity. It provides a finite-dimensional framework for quantum theories. He has also clarified the topological (or cohomological) aspects of certain approaches to quantum gravity, as well as the role of integrability in the foundations of such theories.

In addition to his contributions to mathematical physics, he introduced the cohomological aspect of theories in mathematical logic — what is now referred to as cohomological logic — by linking logic to homotopy theory. Through a geometric approach, he introduced a Hopf algebra structure into generalized logical theories.

He also collaborated with Michael Atiyah in the search for a geometric model of matter, starting from the idea of an ultimate granular structure of space-time that unifies and generalizes its continuous and discontinuous aspects.