The Reverend Canon John Polkinghorne KBE FRS |
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Polkinghorne 2007
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Born |
Weston-super-Mare, England, UK |
16 October 1930
Nationality | United Kingdom |
Education |
Trinity College, Cambridge (BA in mathematics (1952), PhD in physics (1955)) Westcott House, Cambridge |
Occupation | Physicist, priest, writer |
Known for | Particle physics; relationship between science and religion |
Spouse(s) | Ruth (née Martin) Polkinghorne |
Children | Peter (born 1957) Isobel (born 1959) Michael (1963) |
Parent(s) | George and Dorothy (née Charlton) Polkinghorne |
Relatives | Peter Polkinghorne (brother, died 1942) Ann Polkinghorne (sister, died 1930) |
Awards |
Templeton Prize Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellow of the Royal Society |
John Charlton Polkinghorne KBE FRS (born 16 October 1930) is an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer and Anglican priest. A prominent and leading voice explaining the relationship between science and religion, he was professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest in 1982. He served as the president of Queens' College, Cambridge from 1988 until 1996.
Polkinghorne is the author of five books on physics, and 26 on the relationship between science and religion; his publications include The Quantum World (1989), Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship (2005), Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science and Religion (2007), and Questions of Truth (2009).The Polkinghorne Reader (edited by Thomas Jay Oord) provides key excerpts from Polkinghorne's most influential books. He was knighted in 1997 and in 2002 received the £1 million Templeton Prize, awarded for exceptional contributions to affirming life's spiritual dimension.
Polkinghorne was born in Weston-super-Mare to Dorothy Charlton, the daughter of a groom and George Polkinghorne, who worked for the post office. John was the couple's third child. There was a brother, Peter, and a sister, Ann, who died when she was six, one month before John's birth. Peter died in 1942 while flying for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.