John D. Barrow
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- This article is about the English theoretical physicist John David Barrow. For other uses see John Barrow.
John David Barrow FRS (born November 29, 1952, London) is an English cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. He is currently Research Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Barrow is also a writer of popular science and an amateur playwright.
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[edit] Life
Barrow obtained his first degree in Mathematics and physics from Van Mildert College at the University of Durham in 1974.[1] In 1977, he completed his doctorate in astrophysics at Magdalen College in the University of Oxford under Dennis William Sciama. He did two postdoctoral years in astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1981 he joined the University of Sussex, rising to the rank of Professor. In 1999, he became Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University. He is Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project. From 2003–2007 he was Gresham Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London, and he has been appointed as Gresham Professor of Geometry from 2008–2011; only one person has previously held two different Gresham chairs.[2]
Barrow's writings, especially his The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (with Frank J. Tipler), summarise the state of the affairs of physical questions, often in the form of compendia of a large number of facts assembled from the works of great physicists, such as Paul Dirac. His popular approach to philosophical issues posed by physical cosmology have made his works accessible to the general reader.
Along with over 400 articles in journals, Barrow has published 17 books for a general readership, beginning with his 1983 The Left Hand of Creation. He has lectured at 10 Downing Street, Windsor Castle, the Vatican, and on various occasions to the general public. In 2002, his play Infinities premiered in Milan, played in Valencia, and won the Premi Ubu 2002 Italian Theatre Prize.
He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".[3] He is a member of a United Reformed Church, which he describes as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".[4]
[edit] Books
In English:
- New Theories of Everything
- Between Inner Space and Outer Space: Essays on the Science, Art, and Philosophy of the Origin of the Universe
- Impossibility: Limits of Science and the Science of Limits. ISBN 0-09-977211-6
- Material Content of the Universe
- Pi in the Sky: Counting, Thinking, and Being
- Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity
- The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (with Frank J. Tipler). Oxford Uni. Press. ISBN 0-19-282147-4
- The Artful Universe: The Cosmic Source of Human Creativity
- The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins of the Universe
- The Infinite Book: A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless
- The Left Hand of Creation: The Origin and Evolution of the Expanding Universe
- The Origin of the Universe: To the Edge of Space and Time
- The Universe That Discovered Itself
- The World Within the World
- Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation
- The Constants of Nature: The Numbers that Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe
In other languages:
- L'Homme et le Cosmos (in French)
- Perché il Mondo è Matematico? (in Italian)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Durham graduate wins $1M prize. University of Durham Department of Physics (2006-03-20). Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
- ^ Gresham College: New Gresham Chair of Geometry.
- ^ Vitullo-Martin, Julia (April 2006). John Barrow wins 2006 Templeton Prize. Milestones. John Templeton Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (2006-03-16). Math Professor Wins a Coveted Religion Award. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
[edit] External links
[edit] Publications available on the Internet
- Chaos in Numberland: the secret life of continued fractions
- Chaos
- Mathematics and Sports
- Connections in Space website and CD Rom on mathematical and artistic aspects of space, with R. Bright, M. Kemp i N. Mee
- Outer space - A Sense of Balance
- Living in a Simulation, 2003.
- Outer Space - Independence Day
- Solution to A Sense of Balance
- Outer Space - Rugby and Relativity
- Solution to Independence Day
- Wagons Roll
- Solution to Rugby and Relativity
