-
Birth
John Polkinghorne was born in West-super-mare, England. He was the third child born to his parents. -
Family Life
Johns father was promoted within his post office career. His brother Peter was drafted into World War II where he died fighting in the North Atlantic in 1942 -
Dr. Polkinghorne Ph.D
In 1955 John was awarded his Ph.D he was granted the Harkness Fellowship to which he moved from London to the United States to complete his post doctoral at California Institute of Technology. -
Marriage
Whilst studying at Cambridge he met Ruth Martin who was apart of the Christian Union with him. Within this same year Polkinghorne chose to move to the United States. -
Royal Society
Due to his vast contributions to mathematics Polkinghorner was elected into the Royal Society. The Royal Society is the oldest society that recognizes excellence within the field of study of science. -
Church of England
Late within his career John Polkinghorne decided to change his career and became ordained within the Church of England.
"The most fundamental reason for thinking about such an unconventional move was simply that Christianity has always been central to my life. Therefore, becoming a minister of word and sacrament would be a privileged vocation that held out the possibility of deep satisfaction." -
International Society for Science and Religion
Polkinghorne became the founding president for this society, this societies importance was founded to conduct research through both science and religion. -
Legacy
John Polkinghorne was a physicist and mathematician by trade but sought out to discover how science and religion could coexist. He saw how these two sides were always pitted against each other and wanted to find a way that they could relate to each other and even work together in some aspects. Throughout his life he wrote countless books on discoveries of physics including "the quark". -
Death
John Polkinghorne passed away in Cambridge at the age of 90. -
-