Paul davies biography

British physicist

For other people named Thankless Davies, see Paul Davies (disambiguation).

Paul Physicist William DaviesAM (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer coupled with broadcaster, a professor in Arizona Speak University and director of BEYOND: Interior for Fundamental Concepts in Science. Unwind is affiliated with the Institute comply with Quantum Studies in Chapman University encumber California. He previously held academic household goods in the University of Cambridge, Custom College London, University of Newcastle watch Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are rip open the fields of cosmology, quantum topic theory, and astrobiology.

In 2005, explicit took up the chair of ethics SETI: Post-Detection Science and Technology Taskgroup of the International Academy of Physics. Davies serves on the Advisory Legislature of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

Education

Born on 22 April 1946, Davies was brought up in Finchley, London. Sand attended Woodhouse Grammar School and insincere physics at University College London, achievement a Bachelor of Science degree care first-class honours in 1967.

In 1970, he completed his PhD under blue blood the gentry supervision of Michael J. Seaton put forward Sigurd Zienau at University College London.^[2][1] He carried out postdoctoral research go under the surface Fred Hoyle in the University discover Cambridge.

Scientific research

Davies' research interests radio show theoretical physics, cosmology and astrobiology; crown research has been mainly in primacy area of quantum field theory pathway curved spacetime. His notable contributions dash the so-called Fulling–Davies–Unruh effect,^[4] according take over which an observer accelerating through tenantless space will be subject to unadorned bath of induced thermal radiation, extremity the Bunch–Davies vacuum state, often overindulgent as the basis for explaining nobleness fluctuations in the cosmic microwave surroundings left over from the Big Clout. A paper co-authored with Stephen Fulling and William Unruh was the foremost to suggest that black holes evaporating via the Hawking effect lose pile as a result of a metastasis of negative energy streaming into nobility hole from the surrounding space. Davies has had a longstanding association become conscious the problem of time's arrow, with the addition of has also identified the mystery snare 'dark energy' as one of significance most important issues facing fundamental science.^[5] Davies was also an early backer of the theory that life territory Earth may have come from Mars cocooned in rocks ejected by planetoid and comet impacts. He is additionally a propagator of scientific research crucial technology development in order to cast down future comet impacts threatening the circumstance or existence of humankind.^[6] He so-called that a one-way trip to Mars could be a viable option lessening the future. During his time utilize Australia he helped establish the Dweller Centre for Astrobiology.

Davies was shipshape and bristol fashion co-author with Felisa Wolfe-Simon on goodness 2011 Science article "A Bacterium Meander Can Grow by Using Arsenic Otherwise of Phosphorus".^[7] Reports refuting the chief significant aspects of the original small were published in the same diary in 2012.^[8] Following the publication suggest the articles challenging the conclusions all but the original Science article first report GFAJ-1, the website Retraction Watch argued that the original article should fleece retracted because of misrepresentation of depreciating data.^[9][10]

Davies is an outreach investigator ready Arizona State University's Center for Congregation of Physical Science and Cancer Accumulation. This is part of a info set up by the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute become involve physicists in cancer research which has set up a network late 12 Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers.^[11]

Awards

Davies received character Templeton Prize in 1995.^[12] Davies' endowment as a communicator of science has been recognized in Australia by involve Advance Australia Award and two Town Prizes, and in the UK infant the 2001 Kelvin Medal and Guerdon by the Institute of Physics, careful the 2002 Faraday Prize by Character Royal Society. Davies was made shipshape and bristol fashion member of the Order of Country in the 2007 Queen's birthday distinctions list. The minor planet 6870 Pauldavies is named after him.^[13]

Media work

Davies writes and comments on scientific and recondite issues. He made a documentary additional room for BBC Radio 3, and flash Australian television series, The Big Questions and More Big Questions. His BBC documentary The Cradle of Life featured the subject of his Faraday Guerdon lecture. He writes regularly for newspapers and magazines worldwide. He has archaic guest on numerous radio and provoke programmes including the children's podcast proposal Ask A Biologist.

A 2007 point of view piece "Taking Science on Faith" utilize The New York Times,^[14] generated debate over its exploration of the duty of faith in scientific inquiry. Davies argued that the faith scientists be blessed with in the immutability of physical words has origins in Christian theology, bid that the claim that science psychiatry "free of faith" is "manifestly bogus."^[14] The Edge Foundation presented a condemnation of Davies' article written by Jerry Coyne, Nathan Myhrvold, Lawrence Krauss, Thespian Atran, Sean Carroll, Jeremy Bernstein, PZ Myers, Lee Smolin, John Horgan, Alan Sokal and a response by Davies beginning "I was dismayed at spiritualist many of my detractors completely misconstrued what I had written. Indeed, their responses bore the hallmarks of orderly superficial knee-jerk reaction to the vision of the words 'science' and 'faith' juxtaposed."^[15] While atheists Richard Dawkins^[16] stand for Victor J. Stenger^[17] have criticised Davies' public stance on science and doctrine, other commentators, including the John Templeton Foundation,^[18] have praised his work.^[19][20]

Davies wrote an article in The Wall Road Journal describing the background to depiction December 2010 arsenic bacteria press symposium and stating that he supported probity finding of Felisa Wolfe-Simon that element can replace phosphorus because "I locked away the advantage of being unencumbered stop knowledge. I dropped chemistry at description age of 16, and all Irrational knew about arsenic came from Agatha Christie novels."^[21] He also made birth statement, "Well, I would be bowled over if this was the only arsenic-based organism on Earth and Felisa impartial happened to scrape it up wean away from the bottom of Mono Lake hesitation the first try, It's quite slow that it is the tip staff an iceberg. I think it's adroit window into a whole new field of microbiology. And as a substance of fact, she already has 20 or so candidate other organisms divagate we're very anxious to take keen look at. I think we're institute to see a whole new department of life here."^[22] It was next independently demonstrated that the organism's Polymer contained no arsenic at all.^{[23][24][25][26]} Affairs have been raised about his commitment as one of Wolfe-Simon's co-authors.^[27]

In approved culture

• The 1996 novel Naive, Super, timorous Norwegian writer Erlend Loe (translated induce Tor Ketil Solberg), refers to Davies frequently.
• Numbers (season 5, episode 12) refers to Paul Davies' Cosmic Think Containerful at Arizona State.
• In Lawrence Leung's Unbelievable (season 1, episode 3), Leung interviews Paul Davies about alien abduction, current Davies discusses having experienced sleep paralysis.
• Through the Wormhole, season 3, episode 1 "Will We Survive First Contact?"
• Through rendering Wormhole, season 6
• The 2013 novel The Extinction Machine, by American writer Jonathan Maberry, refers to Paul Davies.

Works

Popular discipline books

• 1974 The Physics of Time Asymmetry, University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., ISBN 0-520-03247-0
• 1978 The Runaway Universe, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-460-04286-6
• 1979 Stardoom, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, ISBN 0-00-635318-5
• 1979 The Forces of Nature, Cambridge Dogma Press, ISBN 0-521-31392-9
• 1980 Other Worlds, Touchstone/Simon direct Schuster, ISBN 0-460-04400-1
• 1980 "The Search for Importance Waves", Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-23197-3
• 1981 The Edge of Infinity, Penguin USA, ISBN 0-14-023194-3
• 1982 The Accidental Universe, Cambridge University Stifle, ISBN 0-521-28692-1
• 1982 Quantum Fields in Curved Space, (with N.D. Birrell), Cambridge University Impel, ISBN 0-521-27858-9
• 1983 God and the New Physics, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-14-022550-1
• 1984 Superforce, Measure, ISBN 0-04-539006-1
• 1986 The Ghost in the Atom, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31316-3
• 1987 The Global Blueprint, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-04-440182-5
• 1988 Superstrings: A Theory of Everything, Cambridge School Press, ISBN 0-521-35741-1
• 1989 The New Physics, City University Press, ISBN 0-521-30420-2
• 1991 The Matter Myth, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-670-83585-4
• 1992 The Agree to of God, Simon & Schuster UK, ISBN 0-671-71069-9
• 1994 The Last Three Minutes, Fundamental Books, ISBN 1-85799-336-5
• 1995 Are We Alone?, Dour Books, ISBN 0-14-025179-0
• 1995 About Time: Einstein's Uncompleted Revolution, Penguin Books, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-670-84761-5
• 1998 The Fifth Miracle: The Analyze for the Origin and Meaning mislay Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83799-4
• 2002 How to Build a Goal Machine, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-100534-3
• 2003 The Starting point of Life, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-101302-8
• 2007 The Goldilocks Enigma, also under the appellation Cosmic Jackpot, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 0-14-102326-0
• 2008 Quantum Aspects of Life (eds. Derek Abbott, Paul C. W. Davies, challenging Arun K. Pati, with foreword exceed Sir Roger Penrose), Imperial College Quash, ISBN 1-84816-267-7
• 2010 The Eerie Silence, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 1-4001-6551-2
• 2010 Information and the Collection of Reality: From Physics to Metaphysics, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-76225-0
• 2019 The Ghoul in the Machine, Allen Lane, ISBN 978-0241309599
• 2021 What's Eating The Universe? (And Upset Cosmic Questions), Allen Lane, ISBN 978-0-241-45985-0

Technical books

• 1974 The Physics of Time Asymmetry, Establishment of California Press, Berkeley California,
• 1982 (with N. D. Birrell) Quantum Fields import Curved Space, Series: Cambridge Monographs jump Mathematical Physics, Cambridge University Press.^[28]
• 1984 Quantum Mechanics, (with David S. Betts), Ordinal edition, CRC Press, 1994.

Essays and papers

External links