Christopher Isham (; born 28 April 1944), usually cited as Chris J. Isham, is a
theoretical physicist
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experime ...
at
Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
.
Research
Isham's main research interests are
quantum gravity and foundational studies in
quantum theory. He was the inventor of an approach to
temporal quantum logic called the
HPO formalism, and has worked on
loop quantum gravity and quantum
geometrodynamics. Together with other physicists, such as
John C. Baez, Isham is known as a proponent of the utility of
category theory in theoretical physics. In recent years, since at least 1997, he has been working on a
new approach to quantum theory based on
topos
In mathematics, a topos (, ; plural topoi or , or toposes) is a category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or more generally: on a site). Topoi behave much like the category of sets and possess a notio ...
theory.
Isham has appeared in several ''
NOVA'' television programmes as well as a film about
Stephen Hawking. Physicist
Paul Davies
Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...
has described Isham as "Britain's greatest quantum gravity expert." As a practising
Christian, Isham has also written about the relationships among
philosophy,
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
, and
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
.
Awards
* 2011:
Dirac Medal
The Dirac Medal is the name of four awards in the field of theoretical physics, computational chemistry, and mathematics, awarded by different organizations, named in honour of Professor Paul Dirac, one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20 ...
for his works on
quantum gravity.
2011 Dirac Medal of the Institute of Physics
on the IOP website
Bibliography
* Isham, C. J., Physics, Philosophy, and Theology, 1988
* Christopher Isham, "Quantum Theories of the Creation of the Universe," in R. Russell, N. Murphy and C. J. Isham (eds.), Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1993), p. 74.
* Christopher Isham, "Creation of the Universe as a Quantum Tunnelling Process," in (eds. R. J. Russell et al.), Physics, Philosophy and Theology (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1988), pp. 375–408.
* Isham, C. J. (1993), "Canonical Quantum Gravity and the Problem of Time", in L. A. Ibort and M. A. Rodríguez (eds.), Integrable Systems, Quantum Groups, and Quantum Field theories. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 157-288.
* Isham, C. J., K. V. Kuchař, "Representations Of Space-Time Diffeomorphisms. 2. Canonical Geometrodynamics," Annals of Physics 164:316 (1985).
* Isham, C. J. (1994)
Prima facie questions in quantum gravity
in Ehlers and Friedrich 25 (1994), 1-21.
* Isham, C. J. (1997), “Structural Issues in Quantum Gravity”, in M. Francaviglia et al. (eds.), Florence 1995, General Relativity and Gravitation, World Scientific.
* Butterfield, Jeremy, and Chris Isham (1999), “On the Emergence of Time in Quantum Gravity”, in Butterfield (1999), 111-168.
* Butterfield, Jeremy, and Christopher Isham (2001), “Spacetime and the Philosophical Challenge of Quantum Gravity”, in Craig Callender and Nick Huggett (eds.) (2001), 33-89.
* Döring, Andreas and Isham, Chris, "What is a Thing?: Topos Theory in the Foundations of Physics", in Bob Coecke, New Structures in Physics, Chapter 13, pp. 753–940, Lecture Notes in Physics, 813, Springer, 2011, , (also see )
See also
* List of quantum gravity researchers
* List of Christian thinkers in science
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isham, Christopher
Living people
British physicists
Academics of Imperial College London
Donegall Lecturers of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin
Members of the International Society for Science and Religion
British Christians
1944 births
Deans of the Imperial College Faculty of Natural Sciences