My major theoretical effort has been analyzing the peculiar motions of nearby galaxies (within a few megaparsecs), which has led in turn to a unique way of doing local cosmology. The mention of cosmology brings up an almost metaphysical point about the expansion of space. At the other end of the scale, I have looked into a subtle mathematical analysis of the stability of stars, which leads into considerations of the history and philosophy of science. I have most recently been working on the preparations for a project, not yet in motion, which would reexamine the extragalactic distance scale. Our approach would be one of consumers, not producers, of distances; and would look at the whole matter in a statistically consistent and sophisticated way.
Left, a view of the Local Volume, the galaxies within about 10 megaparsecs, as it is now; right, after a Hubble-relaxation, which distributes the light evenly within a sphere.