Roger Penrose

Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS HonFInstP (born 8 August 1931)[1] is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics.[2] He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and an honorary fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and University College London.[3][4][5]

Quick facts: Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS HonFInstP, Born, Alm... ▼

Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS HonFInstP
Penrose in 2011
Born	Roger Penrose (1931-08-08) 8 August 1931 (age 92) Colchester, England
Alma mater	University College London (BSc) St John's College, Cambridge (PhD)
Known for	List of contributions  Moore–Penrose inverse Twistor theory Spin network Abstract index notation Black hole bomb Geometry of spacetime Cosmic censorship Illumination problem Weyl curvature hypothesis Penrose inequalities Penrose interpretation of quantum mechanics Diósi–Penrose model Newman–Penrose formalism GHP formalism Penrose diagram Penrose inequality Penrose process Penrose tiling Penrose triangle Penrose stairs Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems Penrose graphical notation Penrose transform Penrose–Terrell effect pp-wave spacetime Schrödinger–Newton equations Orch-OR/Penrose–Lucas argument FELIX experiment Trapped surface Andromeda paradox Conformal cyclic cosmology
Spouses	Joan Isabel Wedge ​ ​ (m. 1959, divorced)​ Vanessa Thomas ​ (m. 1988)​ [1]
Children	4
Relatives	Lionel Penrose (father), Roland Penrose (uncle), Jonathan Penrose (brother), Oliver Penrose (brother), Shirley Hodgson (sister), Antony Penrose (cousin)
Awards	List of awards  Adams Prize (1966) Heineman Prize (1971) Fellow of the Royal Society (1972) Eddington Medal (1975) Royal Medal (1985) Wolf Prize (1988) Dirac Medal (IOP) (1989) Albert Einstein Medal (1990) Naylor Prize and Lectureship (1991) Knight Bachelor (1994) James Scott Prize Lectureship (1997–2000) Karl Schwarzschild Medal (2000) De Morgan Medal (2004) Dalton Medal (2005) Copley Medal (2008) Fonseca Prize (2011) Nobel Prize in Physics (2020)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematical physics, tessellations
Institutions	Cornell University Bedford College, London Princeton University Rice University Syracuse University King's College, London Birkbeck, University of London Wadham College, Oxford Polish Academy of Sciences
Thesis	Tensor Methods in Algebraic Geometry (1958)
Doctoral advisor	John A. Todd
Other academic advisors	W. V. D. Hodge
Doctoral students	Andrew Hodges Lane Hughston Richard Jozsa Claude LeBrun John McNamara Tristan Needham Tim Poston Asghar Qadir Richard S. Ward

Penrose has contributed to the mathematical physics of general relativity and cosmology. He has received several prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics, which he shared with Stephen Hawking for the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems,[6] and the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity".[7][8][9][10][lower-alpha 1] He is regarded as one of the greatest living physicists, mathematicians and scientists, and is particularly noted for the breadth and depth of his work in both natural and formal sciences.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]