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Jim Al-Khalili

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Jim Al-Khalili
File:Dr Jim Al-Khalili.jpg
Jim Al-Khalili O.B.E
Born (1962-09-20) 20 September 1962 (age 61)
Baghdad, Iraq
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Surrey
AwardsMichael Faraday Prize
Scientific career
FieldsPhysicist
InstitutionsUniversity of Surrey
University College London
Doctoral advisorRonald C. Johnson

Jim Al-Khalili OBE (born 20 September 1962) is a British theoretical nuclear physicist, academic, author and broadcaster.

Biography

Born in Baghdad in 1962 to an Syrian father and English mother, Professor Al-Khalili studied physics at the University of Surrey. He graduated with a B.Sc. in 1986 and stayed on to pursue a Ph.D. in nuclear reaction theory, which he obtained in 1989. In that year he was awarded a Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) postdoctoral fellowship at University College London. He returned to Surrey in 1991, first as a research assistant then lecturer. In 1994, Al-Khalili was awarded an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Advanced Research Fellowship for five years, during which time he established himself as a leading expert on the structure of neutron halo nuclei (atomic nuclei exhibiting the unusual feature of having one or two loosely bound neutrons orbiting the rest of the nucleus). He has published widely in his field. He currently holds an EPSRC Senior Media Fellowship.[1]

Al-Khalili is now a professor of physics at the University of Surrey where he also holds a chair in the Public Engagement in Science. He is a Trustee and Vice President of the British Science Association.[2]

Despite his work championing the influence of Islam on science, Al-Khalili is an atheist, stating that even though he has a 'Protestant Christian mother and a Shia Muslim father, I have nevertheless ended up without a religious bone in my body'.[3]

In 2004 he was chosen as one of twenty-one "Faces of UK Science" on permanent exhibition in London’s National Portrait Gallery.[4] He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for science communication for 2007[5] and elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been a Fellow of the Institute of Physics since 2000 when he also received the Institute's Public Awareness of Physics Award. He has lectured widely both in the UK and around the world, particularly for the British Council. He currently lives in Southsea, Hampshire, with his wife, Julie and two children, David and Kate.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[6]

File:Dr Jim Al-Khalili in Granada.JPG
Al-Khalili in Granada, Spain


Broadcasting

As a broadcaster, Jim Al-Khalili appears regularly on television and radio and writes regular articles for the British press[7].

On television he is presenter of the BBC4 three part series Science and Islam about the leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.[8]. He has contributed to programmes ranging from Tomorrow's World, BBC Four's Mind Games, BBC Horizon and The South Bank Show. In 2004, he co-presented the Channel 4 documentary "The Riddle of Einstein's Brain" , produced by Icon Films.[9] In 2007 he presented Atom, a three-part series on BBC Four about the history of our understanding of the atom and atomic physics.[10]

Al-Khalili is a regular guest on Radio 4's In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg.[11]

Published Works

Author

Popular science books by Jim Al-Khalili:-

  • Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines (1999, ISBN 0750305606)
  • Nucleus: A Trip into the Heart of Matter (2001, ISBN 0801868602)
  • Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed (2003, ISBN 1841882380)

These have, between them, been translated into thirteen languages.

Consultant editor

  • Invisible Worlds: Exploring the Unseen (2004, ISBN 0297843427)

Contributor

  • The Collins Encyclopedia of the Universe (2001, ISBN 0007105851).
  • "Scattering and inverse scattering in Pure and Applied Science " (2001, ISBN 0126137609).
  • "Quantum Aspects of Life" (2008, ISBN 1848162677).
  • "30-second Theories: The 50 Most Thought-provoking Theories in Science" (2009, ISBN 184831129X).

Forthcoming Title

  • The House of Wisdom and the Legacy of Arabic Science (to be published by Penguin Press in the summer of 2010 ).

Broadcaster

  • The Atom (BBC4)
  • Science and Islam (BBC4)

See also

References

  1. ^ EPSRC profile.
  2. ^ Council of the British Science Association
  3. ^ [1].
  4. ^ Portrait page at the National Portrait Gallery
  5. ^ Press release from the Royal Society
  6. ^ "No. 58729". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 14 June 2008.
  7. ^ http://www.journalisted.com/jim-alkhalili
  8. ^ Science and Islam for BBC Four
  9. ^ Current and Past Productions of Icon Films.
  10. ^ Atom for BBC Four announcement.
  11. ^ Rutherford on In Our Time, Higgs Boson on In Our Time, The Graviton on In Our Time.
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