Professor Jim Al-Khalili

Professor Jim Al-Khalili, OBE, is a British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is currently Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey. He is a prominent public figure and award-winning communicator, regularly appearing on radio and television. He is probably best known as the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s award-winning, The Life Scientific, as well as the Bafta-nominated BBC series, Chemistry: A Volatile History. He is the author of twelve books, translated into over twenty languages. His book on quantum biology, Life on the Edge, was shortlisted for the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize. 

Al-Khalili obtained his PhD in nuclear reaction theory from the University of Surrey in 1989. He was a SERC Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London before returning to Surrey as a lecturer. In 1994, he was awarded a five-year EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship and established himself as a leading expert in few-body dynamics of exotic atomic nuclei. He has published over 100 academic papers on nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and quantum biology. He currently co-director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Training Centre for Quantum Biology at Surrey. 

Al-Khalili was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018 and in 2019 was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics. He is an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, sits on the board of CaSE, and a judge on the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. He previously served as President of the British Humanist Association. He is a recipient of the Royal Society Michael Faraday medal, the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal and the Stephen Hawking Medal. In addition, he was named as a RISE (Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers) leader by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). He received an OBE in 2008.