UP student becomes Philippines’ first homegrown gravitational physicist

The Philippines now has its first ever gravitational physicist!

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Reginald Christian Bernardo unofficially became the first homegrown gravitational physicist after his dissertation on alternative theories of gravity was approved by the University of the Philippines National Institute of Physics (NIP).

UP NIP announced the great news on Facebook on Wednesday, sharing that Reginald successfully defended his dissertation, “Compact Objects, Cosmologies, and Gravitational Perturbations in Scalar-Tensor Theories of Gravity,” during his defense last Friday via Zoom teleconference, which was streamed live on YouTube. 

“It’s a proud moment for everyone. [We can all draw inspiration] from Reggie’s example, that it is possible to respectably engage the larger gravity community in spite of our well-known disadvantages and relative isolation,” Reginald’s advisor Dr. Ian Vega shared with Scientia, UP Diliman College of Science’s official student publication. 

“Finally, the proud intellectual tradition [of gravitational physics] from Newton and Einstein … now also branches through the Philippines too,” he added.

Reginald will officially be a certified doctor after officials sign his documents. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News