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John Polkinghorne’s Early Life
John was born in North Somerset, England on Oct 16, 1930 and was an English theoretical physicist as well as an Anglican priest. He was very accomplished, having earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Master’s/Doctorate in Quantum Field Theory – two fields in which he benefited greatly. He was also widely known for discussing the relationship between religion and science. -
S-Matrix
In 1966 John published his first joint novel – The Analytic S-Matrix – along with D.I. Olive and P.V. Landshoff. John played a major role in the discovery the S-Matrix, which is now used in quantum mechanics, scattering theory, and the quantum field theory. The gist behind the S-Matrix is that is allowed for the explanation of items going through a ‘scattering process’. Source: “John Polkinghorne.” The Gifford Lectures, 20 June 2019, www.giffordlectures.org/lecturers/john-polkinghorne. -
Quark
After having traveled and accepted a Harkness Fellowship with the California Institute of Technology and been a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, John Polkinghorne ended up moving back to Cambridge where he was offered a position as a professor in 1968 for mathematical physics. Here is where he ended up playing a vital role in the discovery of “quark”, which is one of the two main components of matter. -
Theology and Science
John was a firm believer that science and religion work hand-in-hand in explaining the way of the world. He has published several book explaining his theories and what he believes to be the relationship between the two – “ Science asks how things happen….Religion asks why.” (Polkingorne), as discussed in the video below. In 2002 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Science and Religion due to his contributions to the field. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bd37W31dxw