Paul
Davies is Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Australian
Centre for Astrobiology
at Macquarie University.
He previously held academic appointments in astronomy, physics
and mathematics at the Universities of Cambridge, London,
Newcastle upon Tyne and Adelaide. His research has spanned
the fields of cosmology, gravitation, and quantum field theory,
with particular emphasis on black holes and the origin of
the universe. His monograph Quantum Fields in Curved
Space,
co-authored with former student Nicholas Birrell, is widely
used. Davies is also interested in the nature of time, high-energy
particle physics, the foundations of quantum mechanics, the
origin of life and the nature of consciousness.
In addition to his research, Professor
Davies is well known as an author, broadcaster and public
lecturer. He has written over twenty-five books, both popular
and specialist works. They have been translated into more
than twenty languages. Among his better-known works are
God and the New Physics, The Cosmic Blueprint, The Mind
of God, The Last Three Minutes, About Time and
Are We Alone? His latest book is How to Build a
Time Machine. Also notable is his popular account of
astrobiology, originally published under the title The
Fifth Miracle, and now re-launched in revised edition
as The Origin of Life. In recognition of his work
as an author, he was elected as Fellow of The Royal Society
of Literature in 1999.
Davies writes regularly for newspapers,
journals and magazines in several countries, both about
science and the political and social aspects of science
and technology. He was a longstanding contributor to Nature
and The Economist, and is a familiar columnist
in The Guardian. He has written extensively for
other major publications, including The Times, The New
York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American,
Forbes Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, The Australian, The Sydney
Morning Herald, The Age, The Bulletin, Focus and New
Scientist. For two years he was a weekly opinion columnist
for the Adelaide Advertiser, and is a Fellow of
the World Economic Forum.
With longstanding experience in television
and radio, Davies currently averages several appearances
per month in various countries. Among his many contributions
to radio were a series of 45 minute documentaries made for
BBC Radio 3, and subsequently repeated on the ABC. Two of
these documentaries became successful books and one, Desperately
Seeking Superstrings, won the Glaxo Science Writers
Fellowship. In early 2000 he devised and presented a three-part
series for BBC Radio 4 on the origin of life, entitled The
Genesis Factor. His more notable television projects
include two six-part Australian series, The Big Questions
and More Big Questions, and a 2003 documentary
on BBC4 about his work in astrobiology entitled The
Cradle of Life.
In 1991 Davies won the ABC Eureka Prize
for the promotion of science in Australia. In 1992 he won
the University of New South Wales Press Eureka Prize for
his book The Mind of God, and in 1993 he was presented
with an Advance Australia Award for outstanding contributions
to science. He was awarded the 2001 Kelvin Medal by the
UK Institute of Physics and the 2002 Michael Faraday Prize
by the Royal Society for his contributions to promoting
science to the public. He has been named as recipient of
the 2004 Trotter Prize from Texas A&M University. In
April 1999 the asteroid 1992 OG was officially named (6870)
Pauldavies in his honour.
His most significant award was the 1995
Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, the world’s
largest prize for intellectual endeavour, presented by Prince
Philip at Buckingham Palace. The prize ceremony, held at
Westminster Abbey, was attended by 700 people.
Paul Davies is married and holds
both Australian and British citizenship.
