Rev Dr John Polkinghorne

Particle physicist, theologian

After completing National Service in the late 1950s, John Polkinghorne studied mathematics at the University of Cambridge, later gaining a PhD in physics. After lecturing at Edinburgh University, he returned to Cambridge to become Professor of Mathematical Physics. He resigned from this position in the early 1980s to become an Anglican priest, before returning to Cambridge to become Dean of Trinity Hall. He Has written extensively on both faith and science and played a significant role in the discovery of the quark. He has studied and taught both mathematics and physics at Cambridge and was elected a member of the Royal Society. Polkinghorne is an ordained Anglican priest and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He has been awarded two honorary doctorates and the Templeton Prize.

Polkinghorne's books include Questions of Truth: Fifty-one Responses to Questions About God, Science and Belief (2009, with Nicholas Beale), and Theology in the context of Science (2008).