Biography
Roger Penrose (Colchester, England, 1931) is a British mathematician and mathematical physicist, Rouse Ball Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. His research has transformed the geometry of space-time, general relativity and mathematical cosmology. In 2020 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating that black-hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.
His contributions encompass gravitational singularity theorems, twistor theory, aperiodic tilings and the foundations of physics. He has also investigated the relationships between mathematics, computation and consciousness, defending the hypothesis — debated and not established as a scientific consensus — that conscious understanding cannot be explained entirely by computational processes.
His notable books include The Emperor's New Mind (1989), Shadows of the Mind (1994), The Road to Reality (2004), Cycles of Time (2010) and Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe (2016). His work connects original mathematical research with philosophical questions about physical reality, the mind and the limits of scientific explanations.
Profiles and references
Published books