Paul Davies Square

Professor Paul Davies

Paul Davies is Regents’ Professor of Physics, Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and Co-Director of the Cosmology Initiative at Arizona State University. His research has been mainly in the area of theoretical astrophysics and astrobiology, with emphasis on the big bang, black holes, the origin of life and SETI. He is also active in cancer research. He has received many scientific and literary awards, including the 1995 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, The Faraday Prize from The Royal Society and the Kelvin Medal of the UK Institute of Physics. He was made a member of the Order of Australia in the 2007 Queen's birthday honours list and received the Bicentenary Medal of Chile in 2011. The asteroid (6870) Pauldavies was named in recognition of his work on cosmic impacts. He has written several hundred research papers and 31 books, the latest of which is 'The Demon in the Machine,' which addresses the fundamental questions: ‘What is life?’ and ‘How did life begin?’ Davies is a lifelong populariser of science through television and radio series and newspaper and magazine articles. He is not conventionally religious but is passionate about addressing the big questions of existence in an open-minded and intellectually rigorous way. Watch Professor Paul Davies's talk from Genexis 2019.