Deceased Academicians

John David Barrow

Prof.

John David Barrow

Date of birth 29 November 1952

Place London, United Kingdom (Europe)

Nomination 18 December 2019

Field Mathematical Sciences

Title Professor of Mathematical Sciences

Place and date of death Cambridge, UK † 26 September 2020

  • Biography
  • Publications

Most important awards, prizes and academies
Durham University Mathematical Prize 1973; Durham University Prize 1974; Collingwood Mathematical Prize (Durham University and London Mathematical Society) 1974; Johnson Memorial Prize (Oxford University) 1975; Wallace Research Prize (Oxford University) 1977; Lindemann Fellowship of the English Speaking Union of the Commonwealth 1977; Junior Research Lectureship, Christ Church, Oxford 1977; Gravity Prize (5th), Gravity Foundation Awards 1979; Miller Fellowship, University of California at Berkeley 1980; Gravity Prize (3rd), Gravity Foundation Awards 1981; Nominated for the Bhappu Prize of the International Astronomical Union by the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society 1986/7; Nuffield Foundation Science Fellowship 1986/87; Samuel Locker Award in Astronomy 1989; Gravity Prize (4th), Gravity Foundation Awards 1993; Royal Society Leverhulme Senior Fellowship 1992/3; PPARC Senior Fellowship (5 years) 1994-9; Templeton Award 1995; Gravity Prize (5th), Gravity Foundation Awards 1997; Gordon Godfrey Visiting Professor of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 1998; Kelvin Medal, Royal Glasgow Philosophical Society, 1999; Wellcome Sci-art 2000 Award, 2000; Gordon Godfrey Visiting Professor, University of New South Wales, Sydney, December 2000; Italian Theatre Awards, Premi Ubu 2002 Prize for best play (awarded for Infinities); Elected Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion (FISSR), 2002; Gresham Professor of Astronomy, Gresham College, 2003-7; Emeritus Gresham Professor of Astronomy, Gresham College, 2007-; Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (London), FRS, 2003; Gordon GodfreyVisiting Professor of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, November 2003; Italgas Prize for Promulgation of Science 2003, (awarded for Infinities); Lacchini Prize and Medal of the Unione Astrofili Italiani 2005; Honorary Concurrent Professor of Physics, University of Nanjing, China 2005-; Queen's Anniversary Prize 2006 (to Millennium Mathematics Project); Templeton Prize, Templeton Foundation 2006; Honorary Citizen, City of Louisville, Kentucky 2006; Gresham Professor of Geometry, Gresham College 2008-12; Michael Faraday Medal and Prize, Royal Society 2008; Gresham Prize, Mercers Company and Corporation of London 2009 (also to Millennium Mathematics Project); Kelvin Medal and Prize, Institute of Physics, 2009; Elected Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE), 2009; L'Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences, Titular Member, elected 2009; Premio Oriente Science (Prize), Colletti Foundation 2010; Merck-Serono Prize for Science and Literature, Merck-Serono, Italy, 2011; Gravity Research Foundation Research Essay 3rd Prize 2011; Christopher Zeeman Medal, London Mathematical Society and IMA, 2011; Premio Antico Pignolo (Literary Prize), Venice 2012; Emeritus Gresham Professor of Geometry, Gresham College, 2012-; Dirac Gold Medal and Prize, Institute of Physics 2015; Honorary Fellow, Van Mildert College, Durham University, 2015; Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016; Physics Letters Journal: Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing Award, 2017; Giuseppe Occhialini Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics and the Italian Physical Society, 2019. Fellowships: Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS); Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Chartered Physicist (CPhys FInstP) 1998; International Astronomical Union, Member of Commission 47; Forum Fellow, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland 1999, 2000; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), elected 1999; Fellow, International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR), elected 2002; Honorary Fellow, International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR), elected 2017; Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS), elected 2003; L'Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences, Titular Member, elected 2009; Member of e-LISA Cosmology Working Group, 2014-.

Summary of scientific research
Cosmology, astrophysics, theories of gravitation, astroparticle physics, and astronomical tests of fundamental physics. Public Engagement: Mathematics education, public understanding of science and mathematics. Millennium Mathematics Project.

Main publications
Books: The Left Hand of Creation: The Origin and Evolution of the Expanding Universe, 1983.  Pp. 256. Basic Books, New York and Heinemann, London (with J Silk); paperback eds by Allen & Unwin, London and Basic Bks., NY; 2nd enlarged edition 1995, pp 262, publ. Oxford UP, NY and Penguin, London + various languages; L'Homme et le Cosmos, 1984.  Pp. 113, Radio France Imago, Paris (with FJ Tipler); The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, 1986. Pp. 706, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York+ various languages (with FJ Tipler), 2nd edn. 1996; The World Within the World, 1988. Pp. 398, Oxford University Press, London and NY, hard and paper; 2nd edn 1995 and various languages; Theories of Everything: The Quest for Ultimate Explanation, 1991. Pp. 223, Oxford University Press, London and NY, and various languages. Paperback edns by Vintage, London and Ballantine, NY; Pi in the Sky: Counting, Thinking and Being, 1992. Pp. 317, Oxford University Press, London and NY, and various languages. Paperback edns by Penguin, London and Little Brown, NY; Perché il Mondo è Matematico?, 1992. Pp. 108, (1991 Sigma-Tau-Laterza Lectures) Laterza, Rome and various languages; The Origin of the Universe, 1993. Pp. 150, Basic Books, NY and Orion, London (and 26 languages); The Artful Universe, 1995. Pp. 274, Oxford University Press, London and NY and various languages. Paperback edns by Penguin, London and Little Brown, NY; Impossibility: the limits of science and the science of limits, 1998. Oxford U.P., Oxford and NY. Pp. 279 and various languages; Between Inner Space and Outer Space, 1999. Oxford U.P., Pp. 274 + various languages; The Universe that Discovered Itself, 2000. Oxford U.P. , London and New York, pp. 448; The Book of Nothing, 2000. Jonathan Cape London & Pantheon NY (2001) + various languages, pp. 361; Infinities, 2002. Edizione Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Milan in Italian, pp. 94; The Constants of Nature: From Alpha to Omega, 2002. Jonathan Cape, London and 2003 Pantheon NY+ various languages,  pp. 353; The Infinite Book: A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless, 2005. Jonathan Cape and Vintage London and Pantheon NY+ various languages, pp. 328; The Artful Universe Expanded, 2005. 2nd edn Oxford UP, London and NY, pp. 321. paperback edn OUP (2011), Actes Sud, France (2015); New Theories of Everything, 2007. 2nd expanded edn., Oxford UP, Oxford and NY, pp. 260; Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science, April 2008. Bodley Head, Random House, London and W.W. Norton, NY, Paidos, Madrid and Mondadori, Milan, pp. 610; One Hundred Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know, Oct 2008. Bodley Head, Random House, London and W.W. Norton, NY, + various languages, pp. 254; Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know, 2010. E-book, Bodley Head, London, pp. 56; The Book of Universes, Feb. 2011. Bodley Head, Random House and Norton USA, pp. 354; One Hundred Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know About Sport, March 2012, Bodley Head, Random House and Mathletics, W. Norton USA, June 2012; Mathletics, June 2013. Vintage Random House and W. Norton, NY. Paperback edns; One Hundred Essential Things You Didn’t Know about Maths and the Arts, 2014. Bodley Head, Random House and 2015 Norton USA. Articles: JD Barrow and J Middleton 2008 The Stability of an Isotropic Cosmological Singularity in Higher-order Gravity, Phys. Rev. D 77, 103523; JD Barrow, R Maartens and CG Tsagas 2007 Cosmology with Inhomogeneous Magnetic Fields, 2007. Physics Reports 449, 131-171; B Li, DF Mota and JD Barrow 2008 Detecting a Lorentz-violating Field in Cosmology, 2008 Phys. Rev. D 77, 024032; JD Barrow, 2007 A Strong Constraint on Ever-Present Lambda, Phys. Rev. D 75, 067301; JD Barrow and S Hervik 2006 Anisotropically Inflating Universes, Phys. Rev. D 73, 023007; T Clifton and JD Barrow 2005 The Power of General Relativity, Phys. Rev. D 72, 103005; JD Barrow 2005 General Cosmological Bounds on Spatial Variations of Physical Constants, Phys. Rev. D 71, 083520; JD Barrow 2004 Sudden Future Singularities, Class. Quantum Gravity 21, L79-L82; K Subramanian, TR Seshadri and JD Barrow 2003 Small-scale CMB Polarisation anisotropies due to Tangled Primordial Magnetic Fields, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 344, L31-35; HB Sandvik, JD Barrow and J Magueijo 2002 A simple varying-alpha cosmology, 2002. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 031302.

Professional Address

Dept. of Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics
Centre for Mathematical Sciences
Cambridge University
Wilberforce Road
Cambridge CB3 0WA
Great Britain