Paul Davies (physicist)

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Paul Davies

Paul Charles William Davies AM (born April 22, 1946 in London ) is a British physicist and non-fiction author who has taught in Great Britain, Australia and the USA .

Life

Davies received his bachelor's degree from University College London in 1967 , where he received his PhD in 1970 (on the Wheeler - Feynman version of electrodynamics). He then spent two years as a post-doc at the Institute for Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge with Fred Hoyle , where he dealt with astrophysics (atomic elementary processes in star atmospheres, cosmology, quantum theory of black holes). In 1972 he became a lecturer at King's College London . In 1980 he became professor of theoretical physics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne . In 1990 he went to Australia, where he became Professor of Mathematical Physics (from 1993 Professor of Natural Philosophy) at the University of Adelaide . In 1998 he was visiting professor at Imperial College London and in the same year he became adjunct professor at the University of Queensland . In 2001 he became Adjunct Professor at the Australian Center for Astrobiology at Macquarie University , which he co-founded. In 2006 he became professor and director and co-founder of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts of Science at Arizona State University , whose mission is to promote research, exchange and discussion on fundamental questions about the universe and the origin of life.

In addition to cosmology and quantum field theory (especially quantum field theory in curved space-times), Davies also deals with astrobiology , SETI and questions about the origin of life. His research areas are subjects of his numerous books, which are kept generally understandable, in which he also addresses ideological and religious questions. He is known in English-speaking countries for his television and radio programs, for example on the BBC radio program and on Australian television.

Since 2005, Davies has headed a working group at the International Academy of Astronautics , which is supposed to work out procedures in the event that signals from extraterrestrial beings should actually be picked up within the framework of the SETI project .

In 1995 he received the lucrative Templeton Prize from the Templeton Foundation. He received other prizes for his popular science books.

He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and a member of the Royal Literary Society, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics, the UK Institute of Physics and the Singapore Institute of Physics, and an honorary member of the Indian Astronomical Society.

From a first marriage in 1972, Davies has three daughters and one son. In 2003 he married a science journalist in his second marriage.

Fonts

Scientific books:

  • The physics of time asymmetry. University of California Press, 1976.
  • with Nicholas D. Birrell: Quantum fields in curved space. Cambridge University Press, 1982.
  • with David Betts: Quantum Mechanics. Kluwer, 1994.
  • Editor: The new physics. Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Popular science books:

  • The cosmic hit. Why we are here and why the universe is made for us. Campus, 2008 (The Goldilocks enigma - why is the universe just right for life?).
  • This is how you build a time machine. Piper, 2005, ISBN 349224422X (How to build a time machine).
  • The fifth miracle. In search of the origin of life. Scherz, 2001, ISBN 3502151636 (The fifth Miracle, Penguin 1998).
  • with Julian Brown: The spirit in the atom. A discussion of the secrets of quantum physics. Insel, Frankfurt 2001, ISBN 3458331999 (The Ghost in the atom).
  • The last three minutes. Bertelsmann, Munich 1997, ISBN 3570120058 ; Goldmann, Munich 1998. ISBN 3442150086 (The last three minutes).
  • Are we alone in the Universe? Special edition. About the probability of extraterrestrial life. 1998, ISBN 3502191441 (Are we alone?).
  • God's plan. The mysteries of our existence and science. Insel, Frankfurt 1996, ISBN 3458336346 (The Mind of God, Simon and Schuster 1993).
  • The immortality of time. Modern physics between rationality and God. Scherz, Munich 1995, ISBN 3502131430 (About Time - Einstein's unfinished revolution, Simon and Schuster 1995).
  • with John Gribbin : On the way to the world formula. Superstrings, chaos, complexity - and then what? Byblos, 1993 (The Matter Myth).
  • with Julian R. Brown (Ed.): Superstrings. An all-encompassing theory of nature under discussion. DTV, Munich 1992, ISBN 3423114975 (first in 1988, with interviews by Richard Feynman , John Schwarz , Edward Witten , Michael Green , Steven Weinberg , David Gross , John Ellis , Abdus Salam , Sheldon Glashow ).
  • Principle of chaos. Goldmann, Munich 1991, ISBN 3442114691 (The cosmic blueprint 1987).
  • The primal force - in search of a unified theory of nature. DTV, Munich 1990, ISBN 3423112751 (Superforce 1984).
  • God and modern physics. Bertelsmann, Munich 1986, ISBN 357004906X (God and the new physics, Dent 1983).
  • Multiple worlds. Discoveries in quantum physics. Diederichs, Munich 1981, 1988 ISBN 3424007145 (Other Worlds, Simon and Schuster 1980).
  • In the end a new beginning. The biography of the universe. Diederichs, Munich 1979, ISBN 3424006629 ; Ullstein 1984 (The Runaway Universe, 1977).
  • The Forces of Nature. Cambridge University Press, 1979, 2nd edition 1986.
  • The Edge of Infinity. Simon and Schuster, 1981.
  • The Accidental Universe. Cambridge University Press, 1982.
  • The Eerie Silence. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010, ISBN 978-0547133249 .

Novels:

  • Fireball. Rasch and Röhring, 1989, 1992, ISBN 389136265X (Fireball 1987, Thriller).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Also often cited as PCWDavies
personal data
SURNAME Davies, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davies, Paul Charles William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British physicist and non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH London