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The Life of John Polkinghorne
Born 16 October 1930. Died 9 March 2021 -
College Years
Polkinghorne joined Trinity College in Cambridge in 1949. He chose to specialize in quantum mechanics during his attendance, he graduated from Cambridge in 1952. Three years later he married Ruth Martin, a fellow classmate and member of the Christian Union. He completed his doctoral thesis and was awarded his Ph.D shortly after his marriage. -
Work Opportunities
In 1957 he began teaching theoretical physics in Edinburgh. His first child was born whilst in Edinburgh. After 2 years he moved to Cambridge where he taught various subjects and was eventually given a professorship. He had two more children during his 10 year tenure at Cambridge. He often visited the USA to given lessons at Princeton, Stanford and Berkley. -
The Royal Society
In 1974 he was elected to join the Royal Society for his contributions to mathematical physics. His role in the society was to promote science, recognize excellence in science and give scientific advise. One of his major works that got him recognition was based on the S matrix. Polkinghorne, J. C. “An Identity for Thesmatrix for a Finite Time Interval.” Physical Review, vol. 93, no. 1, 1954, pp. 228–229., https://doi.org/10.1103/physrev.93.228. -
The Reverend
John Polkinghorne is often referred to as the Reverend Doctor for his work later in his life. He often balanced his scientific beliefs with those of his religion. In 1981 he decided to become a deacon of the Anglican church. He later become a priest whilst also being he president of Queen's College in Cambridge. -
Knighting
A year after his retirement in 1996 he was knighted for his service to science and religion. Later in 2002 he was awarded the Templeton prize for his unique work in the scientific habits of Christianity. Here is a great piece regarding science and religion from Polkinghorne. Polkinghorne, J. C. (2007). Science and providence: God's interaction with the world. International Society for Science and Religion. -
The Passing of Polkinghorne
He passed away in 2021 at the age of 90. During his life he severed on many committees such as the Human Genetics Advisory Commission, Task Force for review of drug misusers and the National Treatment Outcome study. His work in the groups still plays a part in today's scientific research and ethical boundaries for it. -
Reference
John Polkinghorne - Biography. Maths History. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2021, from https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Polkinghorne/.