Jim Al-Khalili | |
|---|---|
 Jim Al-Khalili at theRoyal Society admissions day in London, July 2018 | |
| Born | Jameel Sadik Al-Khalili[3] (1962-09-20)20 September 1962 (age 62)[4] Baghdad, Iraq |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Education | Priory School, Portsmouth[5] |
| Alma mater | University of Surrey (BSc, PhD) |
| Known for | The Life Scientific |
| Spouse | Julie Frampton[4] |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Intermediate Energy Deuteron Elastic Scattering from Nuclei in a Three-Body Model (1989) |
| Website | |
Jameel Sadik "Jim"Al-Khalili (Arabic:جميل صادق الخليلي; born 20 September 1962)[4] is an Iraqi-Britishtheoretical physicist and science populariser. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at theUniversity of Surrey. He is a regular broadcaster and presenter of science programmes onBBC radio and television, and a frequent commentator about science in other British media.
In 2014 Al-Khalili was named as a RISE (Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers) leader by the UK'sEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).[6][7] He was President ofHumanists UK between January 2013 and January 2016.[8][9][10]
Al-Khalili was born inBaghdad in 1962.[4] His father was anIraqi Air Force engineer, and hisEnglish mother was a librarian.[5] Al-Khalili settled permanently in theUnited Kingdom in 1979.[4]
After completing (and retaking) hisA-levels over three years until 1982,[5] he studiedphysics at theUniversity of Surrey and graduated with aBachelor of Science degree in 1986. He stayed on at Surrey to pursue aDoctor of Philosophy degree in nuclear reaction theory, which he obtained in 1989, rather than accepting a job offer from theNational Physical Laboratory.[11]
In 1989, Al-Khalili was awarded aScience and Engineering Research Council (SERC) postdoctoral fellowship atUniversity College London, after which he returned to Surrey in 1991, first as a research assistant, then as a lecturer.[12] In 1994, Al-Khalili was awarded anEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Advanced Research Fellowship for five years,[13] during which time he established himself as a leading expert on mathematical models ofexotic atomic nuclei. He has published widely in his field.[2][14]
Al-Khalili is a professor of physics at theUniversity of Surrey, where he also holds a chair in the Public Engagement in Science.[15] He has been a trustee (2006–2012) and vice president (2008–2011) of theBritish Science Association.[16] He also held anEPSRC Senior Media Fellowship.[13]
Al-Khalili was awarded theRoyal Society of London Michael Faraday Prize for science communication for 2007[17] and elected an Honorary Fellow of theBritish Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been aFellow of the Institute of Physics since 2000, when he also received the Institute's Public Awareness of Physics Award.[18] He has lectured widely both in the UK and around the world, particularly for theBritish Council. He is a member of the British Council Science and Engineering Advisory Group,[19] a member of theRoyal Society Equality and Diversity Panel,[20] an external examiner for theOpen University Department of Physics and Astronomy, a member of the Editorial Board for the open access Journal PMC Physics A, and Associate Editor of Advanced Science Letters. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee for theCheltenham Science Festival.
In 2007, he was a judge on the BBCSamuel Johnson Prize[21] for non-fiction and has been a celebrity judge at the National Science & Engineering Competition Finals at The Big Bang Fair. He was appointed Officer of theOrder of the British Empire (OBE) in the2008 Birthday Honours.[22] In 2012, he delivered theGifford Lectures onAlan Turing: Legacy of a Code Breaker at theUniversity of Edinburgh.[23] In 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (DSc) from the University of London.[24] Al-Khalili was elected as aFellow of the Royal Society in 2018[25] and elected an Honorary Fellow of theRoyal Academy of Engineering in 2023.[26]
He was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2021 Birthday Honours for services to science and public engagement inSTEM.[27]
As a broadcaster, Al-Khalili is frequently on television and radio and also writes articles for the British press.[28][29] In 2004, he co-presented theChannel 4 documentaryThe Riddle of Einstein's Brain, produced byIcon Films.[30] His big break as a presenter came in 2007 withAtom, a three-part series onBBC Four about the history of our understanding of the atom and atomic physics.[31] This was followed by a special archive edition ofHorizon, "The Big Bang".[32]
In early 2009, Al-Khalili presented the BBC Four three-part seriesScience and Islam about the leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.[33] He has contributed to programmes ranging fromTomorrow's World, BBC Four'sMind Games,The South Bank Show toBBC One'sBang Goes the Theory.[34] In 2010 he presented the BBC documentary on thehistory of chemistry,Chemistry: A Volatile History.[35] In October 2011, he began a programme on famous contemporary scientists onRadio Four, calledThe Life Scientific.[36] The first of this series featured his interview withPaul Nurse.[37] He has since interviewed a series of notable scientists, includingRichard Dawkins,Alice Roberts,James Lovelock,Steven Pinker,Martin Rees,Jocelyn Bell Burnell,Mark Walport andTim Hunt, and he has himself been interviewed on the show byAdam Rutherford.
Al-Khalili hosts a regular "Jim meets..." interview series at theUniversity of Surrey, which is published on the university'sYouTube channel. Guests have includedDavid Attenborough,Robert Winston,Brian Cox andRowan Williams,Archbishop of Canterbury.[38] In 2011, Al-Khalili hosted a three-part documentary series on BBC Four entitledShock and Awe: The Story of Electricity.[39] In 2012, Al-Khalili presented aHorizon special onBBC 2, which examined the latest scientific developments in the quest to discover theHiggs Boson, with preliminary results from theLarge Hadron Collider experiment at CERN suggesting that the elusive particle does indeed exist.
Al-Khalili has been one of the experts interviewed in thePhilomena Cunk mockumentariesCunk on Earth (2022) andCunk on Life (2024).[40][41][42]
Al-Khalili lives inSouthsea,Portsmouth, with his wife Julie.[5] They have a son and daughter.
Al-Khalili is anatheist and ahumanist,[48] remarking, "as the son of aProtestantChristian mother and aShiaMuslim father, I have nevertheless ended up without a religious bone in my body".[49] Al-Khalili became vice president of Humanists UK in 2016 after stepping down as its president.[50]
He is also a patron of Guildford-based educational, cultural and social community hub, The Guildford Institute.[51]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(January 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
A list of Jim Al-Khalili'speer reviewed research papers can be found onGoogle Scholar[2] andScopus.[7] His published books include:
His essays, chapters and other contributions include:
Jim Al-Khalili has written one science fiction novel:
(registration required)I find it more comfortable to say I'm an atheist, and for that I probably have someone like Dawkins to thank.
| People |
| %2c_University_of_Surrey.jpg) |
|---|---|---|
| History | ||
| Associated institutions | ||
| Commercial links | ||
| Student life | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
