Maaneli (Max) Derakhshani is a theoretical physicist and philosopher of physics, with a Ph.D in the Foundations of Physics from Utrecht University in 2017. He has previously worked as a postdoc at Rutgers University, New Brunswick (Department of Mathematics) and Utrecht University (Department of Mathematics). He is also currently a Fellow of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics and a Member of the Foundational Questions Institute.

Maaneli has published his research in journals such as Physical Review Letters, Physical Review A, Physics Letters A, Journal of Physics, Pure and Applied Mathematics Quarterly, Entropy, Symmetry, and Physics of Life Reviews. His research has been covered in Science, New Scientist, EurekaAlert!, Phys.org, and the Clubhouse show "It's About Time!", among other media outlets. He is also a recipient of grants from the Foundational Questions Institute and John Templeton Foundation, and received the top prize for the John Templeton Foundation's "Ideas Challenge" in 2020.

Outside of physics, Maaneli has contributed an essay, “Another Thing in This Universe that Cannot Be an Illusion,” to the volume, Sam Harris: Critical Responses, and has given two presentations for The Tom Nelson podcast: "Does ENSO Dominate Global Warming?" (Tom Nelson Pod #81) and "ENSO Warming vs. CO2 Warming" (Tom Nelson Pod #89).

Maaneli is also a member of the Manhattan Institute and works with them to promote freer markets and more limited government. His shift to a more sensible view about climate change was initiated by reading Thomas Gale Moore's Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming, a book enthusiastically endorsed by his favorite economist, Milton Friedman, for making a compelling case that global warming brings overwhelming net benefits to humanity.