Professor Jim Al-Khalili OBE

Professor Jim Al-Khalili is a renowned British scientist, author and broadcaster. He is Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey and is also Chair of Public Engagement in Science.

Jim is a trustee of and Member of Council for the Institute of Phyics, member of board of directors of CaSE, Judget for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, Patron and Vice President of Humanists UK, Member of the Royal Society Education Committee and Member of the Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee.

Jim obtained his PhD in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Surrey. He spent two years as an SERC Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London (UCL). He was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship for five years and then subsequently returned as a full time lecturer at the University of Surrey and later Professor of Physics. Despite his profile as a public scientist, he continues to teach undergraduate physics and carry out research. He has published almost a hundred papers in nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and quantum biology.

Jim has written eleven science books, which have been translated into 26 languages. His book on quantum biology (co-authored with  Johnjoe McFadden), Life on the Edge, has been shortlisted for the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize. He is a regular presenter of TV science documentaries, including the Bafta nominated BBC series, Chemistry: A Volatile History. He is mostly likely best known as presenter of the weekly BBC Radio 4 programme, The Life Scientific.

He is a recipient of the  prestigious Royal Society Michael Faraday medal, the Stephen Hawking Medal and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal. He has honorary doctorates from University of London, Royal Holloway, University of Bradford, The Open University, University of Portsmouth, the University of York and the University of Roehampton. He received an OBE in 2007 for ‘services to science’.