The Reverend Dr. John Polkinghorne worked in theoretical elementary particle physics for 25 years and was Professor of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge University, 1968-79. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974. In 1979 Polkinghorne resigned his chair to study for the Anglican priesthood. He was ordained in 1982. After some years in parish life he returned to Cambridge to work on issues in science and theology, a topic on which he has written many books, including his Gifford Lectures, Science and Christian Belief (in the USA, The Faith of a Physicist), his Terry Lectures, Belief in God in an Age of Science, and more recently, The God of Hope and the End of the World. In 1996 he retired from being President of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and he was knighted in 1997. He has Hon DDs from the Universities of Kent (1994) and Durham (1999) and Hon DScs from the Universities of Exeter (1994) Leicester (1995) and Marquette (2003). He is an Hon Fellow of St Chad’s College, Durham (1999) and of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge (2002). In the United Kingdom, Polkinghorne has been the Chairman of several Committees offering advice to Government on ethical and social issues related to new developments in science and technology, for example Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (1996-1999). In 2002 he was awarded the Templeton Prize. John Polkinghorne was one of the founders of the Society of Ordained Scientists and was the Founding President of the International Society for Science and Religion (2002-2004). The Royal Society Biographical Memoir is now available online.
Recent selected publications on science and religion
- Science and Providence (SPCK, 1989) – re-published by Templeton Foundation Press 2005.
- Reason and Reality (SPCK, 1991)
- Science and Christian Belief (SPCK, 1994) In the US – The Faith of a Physicist (Princeton University Press, 1994)
- Quarks, Chaos and Christianity (Triangle, 1994)
- Beyond Science (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
- Belief in God in an Age of Science (Yale University Press, 1998)
- Science & Theology (SPCK, 1998)
- Traffic in Truth – Exchanges between Theology and Science (Canterbury Press 2000; Fortress, 2002)
- Faith, Science, and Understanding (SPCK/Yale University Press, 2000)
- The God of Hope and the End of the World (SPCK/Yale University Press 2002)
- Science and the Trinity (SPCK/Yale University Press 2004)
- Exploring Reality: The Intertwining of Science & Religion (SPCK/Yale University Press 2005).
Recent selected scientific publications
- The Quantum World (Longman 1984; Princeton University Press, 1985; Pelican Books, 1986; Penguin Books, 1990; Czech, Greek, Italian, Japanese and Portuguese translations).
- Quantum Theory – a very short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2002; Arabic, Czech, Dutch, German and Serbocroat translations)
