Jim Al-Khalili

Information

Biography

Jim Al-Khalili is an Iraqi born British quantum physicist, author and broadcaster. As an academic, he is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Surrey. He received his PhD in nuclear reaction theory in 1989 and has published over 150 papers in the field. His current research interests include open quantum systems, the foundations and history of quantum mechanics and the application of quantum mechanics in biology. In 2018, he established at Surrey the world’s first doctoral training centre in quantum biology and, in 2020, set up a new Quantum Foundations Centre. As a science communicator Jim hosts BBC Radio’s long running show, The Life Scientific, which attracts over three million weekly listeners. His many TV science documentaries over the past two decades include Atom, The Story of Electricity and the Bafta nominated Chemistry: a volatile history. His 16 books on popular science and the history of science have been translated into twenty-six languages. Jim is a past president of both the British Science Association and Humanists UK and is a recipient of the Royal Society Michael Faraday medal and the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar medal, the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal and the Stephen Hawking medal. He received an OBE from the Queen in 2007 and later a CBE in 2021, both for ‘services to science and public engagement in STEM’. He has received honorary doctorates from ten UK universities. He is a trustee and commissioner on the board of the 1851 Royal Commission and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of engineering Jim lives in Hampshire in the UK with his wife, Julie. He has two adult children and has recently become a grandfather to twins.