The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #70797 Message #1223126
Posted By: freda underhill
10-Jul-04 - 11:25 PM
Thread Name: BS: What Do Physicists Think About?? IV
Subject: RE: BS: What Do Physicists Think About?? IV
this is an interesting interview with Professor Paul Davies. He currently holds the positions of Visiting Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Queensland and Adjunct Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Professor Davies has published over 100 research papers in specialist journals, in 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, remains a seminal text in the field of quantum gravity. 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. He was nominated as one of Australia's ten most creative people by The Bulletin in December 1996.
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, Are We Alone? and The Fifth Miracle: the search for the origin of life. His latest book is How to Build a Time Machine. In recognition of his work as an author, he was elected as Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature in 1999.
Davies was once described by the Washington Times as "the best science writer on either side of the Atlantic". His books explain advanced scientific concepts in simple terms, and explore the philosophical consequences of the latest ideas at the forefront of research. He likes to focus on the deep questions of existence, such as how the universe came into existence and how it will end, the nature of human consciousness, the possibility of time travel, the relationship between physics and biology, the status of the laws of physics and the interface of science and religion.
The journalist interviewing him, Philip Adams, is an athiest and a humanist.