I am a historian of the history of the universe. I study changes in how the universe has been studied and known during the 20th century. At the heart of my work is the desire to engage with open problems and controversies in cosmology by tracing the history of its theories, ideas, and practices.
History of Cosmology
My historical research deals with the history of dark matter—the mysterious mass that makes up 85% of the mass in the universe. After four decades of experimental searches, the exact nature of this mass still eludes physicists. Where did this problem come from? How did dark matter come to matter? I try to unravel the conditions under which this fascinating problem struck root—and how physicists are currently dealing with it.
I am a historian of the history of the universe
In my research I combine physics with archival research and oral history interviews—interviewing important scientists on their contribution to the field. It has taken me anywhere between Tartu and Los Angeles, and into the offices scientists like Nobel Prize winners Jim Peebles and Sheldon Glashow. I have authored several pieces on dark matter’s history and am finishing my book on the subject, under contract with MIT Press.
Physics & Environments
In my quest to understand the story of dark matter, I also write about current practices of researchers to find hypothetical particles. How do physicists study something that is inherently invisible? I was a postdoctoral fellow with anthropologist Prof. Annemarie Mol in Amsterdam, where we analyzed the unbelievably mundane and incredibly crucial role of cleaning in the quest for dark matter and creating the most sensitive detectors in the world.
How to study something that is inherently invisible?
In my Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions funded project, The Nature of Reality and the Reality of Nature, I investigate the search for cosmic particles and its entanglement with the environment.
TAMBO: Neutrinos & Responsibility
What does it mean to do astrophysics more responsible? I am the Co-PI of the Templeton Foundation-funded TAMBO Observatory — Tau-neutrino Air-shower Mountain-Based Observatory — led together with Prof. Carlos Arguelles of Harvard University. The project is aimed to build a new type of neutrino telescope in Peru, designed to detect high-energy-neutrinos borne out of the largest cosmic explosions. Where Carlos leads the physics, I attend to the urgent demands to increase the social and environmental responsibility of research infrastructure.
In this unique collaboration, I lead an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists and sociologists to spearhead Responsible Siting: an ethical approach to collaborate with local communities to co-produce collective goals in building the TAMBO observatory. Our work includes mapping and engaging stakeholders in the local community, understand and relate to their cultural cosmological outlooks, and perform impact and sustainability assessments of instruments.
Our work includes science communication for under-served communities. We are working together with Peruvian animation studio Zeppelin, to develop educative visuals for local schools.
Publications
de Swart, J., & Mol, A. (2025). Cleaning a dark matter detector: A case of ontological and normative elusiveness. Social Studies of Science, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/03063127251361158
Argüelles, C, et al. [including de Swart, J.] (TAMBO Collaboration) (2025). TAMBO: A Deep-Valley Neutrino Observatory. arXiv e-Print: 2507.08070
de Swart, J. (2024). Five decades of missing matter. Physics Today, 77 (8): 34–43.
de Swart, J., Thresher, A.C. & Argüelles, C.A. (2024). The humanities can help make physics greener. Nature Review Physics 6, 404–405
de Swart, J. (2020). Closing in on the Cosmos: Cosmology’s Rebirth and the Rise of the Dark Matter Problem. In A. Blum, R. Lalli, & J. Renn (Eds.), The Renaissance of General Relativity in Context. Einstein Studies, vol 16 (pp. 257–284). Birkhäuser, Cham.
de Swart, J. (2019). Deciphering dark matter: the remarkable life of Fritz Zwicky, Nature 573, 32-33
de Swart, J. G., Bertone, G., & van Dongen, J. (2017). How dark matter came to matter. Nature Astronomy, 1(3), 0059
