PhD in Theoretical Physics (1997, Concordia U., Montreal)
PhD in Philosophy of Physics (1988, Bulg. Acad. Sci.)
MSc in Physics (1980, University of Sofia)

Research interests:

Foundations of Physics
(i) nature of inertia and gravitational phenomena, more specifically: Is gravity a physical interaction (i.e., Can gravity be quantized?) and How does mass-energy (or, more precisely, what is described by the stress-energy tensor) change the geometry of spacetime? (the major open question in gravitational physics, which might turn out to sound differently - Is what is described by the stress-energy tensor a specific state of spacetime?)
(ii) foundations of spacetime physics (sometimes still misleadingly called special and general relativity)
(iii) propagation of light in non-inertial reference frames and physics in non-inertial reference frames (observing, measuring and mathematically describing physical phenomena on the Earth's surface is physics in a non-inertial reference frame)
(iv) foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory

Philosophy of Science
(i) nature and ontology of spacetime
(ii) nature of time and specifically the nature of what we perceive as flow of time
(iii) conceptual and philosophical issues of spacetime physics and quantum physics
(iv) growth and reliability of scientific knowledge and confirmation of scientific theories (there is no expiration date for scientific theories in the domain where their predictions have been experimentally confirmed)
(v) the most counterintuitive and provoking implications of spacetime such as free will and the nature of consciousness (for years I have been avoiding them and only recently "went public", because (i) I thought it was scientifically and intellectually dishonest to talk about a real spacetime, but to avoid discussing its most counterintuitive and really provoking implications, and (ii) to make it as clear as possible that the irrational and stubborn reaction to those implications - this cannot be because it cannot be - is neither science nor common sense).

Professional activities:

One of the founders and current director of the Institute for Foundational Studies "Hermann Minkowski"

On the Editorial Board of two Springer book series Fundamental Theories of Physics and Springer Briefs in Physics

On the International Advisory Board of the Bulgarian journal Philosophical Alternatives

Member of the Governing Board of the International Society for the Advanced Study of Spacetime and spokesperson for the Society

Primary organizer of two biennial international conferences: International Conferences on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime and Hermann Minkowski Meetings on the Foundations of Spacetime Physics

Organizer of the Montreal Inter-University Seminar on the History and Philosophy of Science (started in January 2002)

Association Memberships and Honours:

Canadian Association of Physicists
American Physical Society
Philosophy of Science Association
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science
Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship
National Association of Scholars
Canadian Civil Liberties Association

5 November 2005 - the Golden Key "for excellence in teaching and for raising the international reputation of Concordia University" from the Golden Key International Honor Society; nominated by Concordia's students.

Personal and Miscellaneous:

4 July 2024 - Found by chance - Le Journal de Montréal of 25 September 1990

18 May 2023 - My attempts to recover the butterfly that I used to swim in my student years continue, but are still quite unsuccessful with only a slight improvement

17 December 2022 - When in class you explain (i) how two hypothetical research teams - traditional and radical - could deal with an open question in physics and (ii) that the ultimate judge in physics is experiment, perhaps the best indication for proper understanding of the course material is when students bring two T-shirts at the end of the semester.

14 July 2022 - Svetla and I relaxing after a busy day

30 December 2021 - Svetla and I - 40 years together

My answers to questions at

6 December 2020 - December 6th is still a special day for me

9-14 June 2017 - 5-day (deserved) vacation in an amazing SPA hotel in Bulgaria

31 January 2017 - Additional motivation to find (somehow) time to complete the undergraduate physics textbook Introduction to Spacetime Physics.

14-28 January 2017 - Svetla and I took a break from the cold Montreal winter

30 December 2016 - Svetla and I - 35 years together

• Minkowski Institute
• Minkowski Institute Physics Journal
• Minkowski Institute Magazine
• Minkowski Institute Press
• Minkowski Institute Press books on Amazon
• Blog (associated with the Minkowski Institute) specifically intended to draw physicists' attention to what is usually regarded as self-evident (but is not always the case) - Doing Physics Right

Meetings organized by Minkowski Institute

• Forthcoming: Fourth Hermann Minkowski Meeting on the Foundations of Spacetime Physics
• Series: Hermann Minkowski Meetings on the Foundations of Spacetime Physics
• Series: International Conferences on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime
• Book exhibitions at the Minkowski Institute Meetings