Peter Coles (born 1963) is a theoretical cosmologist at

Maynooth University Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

. He studies the large scale structure of our Universe. He studied for his PhD from 1985 to 1988, subsequently becoming a postdoctoral researcher at Sussex and Queen Mary, subsequently becoming a lecturer there. He was a professor at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

starting in 2007, and from 2013 he was the head of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. In 2017 he started working at Maynooth University, becoming head of the Department of Theoretical Physics in 2019.

Early life and education

He was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. He did his first degree at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, in Natural Sciences, specialising in Theoretical Physics. In 1985 he started studying for his doctorate at the

, supervised by

John D. Barrow John David Barrow (29 November 1952 – 26 September 2020) was an English physical cosmology, cosmologist, Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. He served as Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College from 2008 t ...

, and completed his

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

thesis in 1988. Coles advises LGBT scientists not to worry excessively that their sexual orientation will impair their careers. He enjoys a wide range of music, especially classical and jazz and he listens to Radio 3, but he does not like the sound produced by

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

Career

Coles has been a cosmologist and theoretical astrophysicist since 1985. During 1988 and 1990 he was a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the

, before moving to the mathematics department of the Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London, where he worked from 1990 until 1999, first as a temporary lecturer, then as a PPARC Advanced Fellow from 1993 to 1998, becoming Lecturer-in-waiting in 1994 and Reader-in-waiting in 1997. He then worked at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

between 1999 and 2007 as a professor of astrophysics, where he set up a new group in astronomy. Coles was a professor of theoretical astrophysics at

from 2007 to 2013, and was the deputy head of the school of physics and astronomy. In February 2013 he became the head of the school of mathematical and physical sciences at the

. He left the University of Sussex in 2016 to return to Cardiff to hold a joint position with the school of physics and astronomy and the Data Innovation Research Institute. On 1 December 2017 he started working part-time at both

and Cardiff, moving full-time to Maynooth in July 2018. He became head of the Department of Theoretical Physics on 1 September 2019. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

and of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

, but resigned from both in 2024 due to their use of high

article processing charge An article processing charge (APC), also known as a publication fee, is a fee which is sometimes charged to authors. Most commonly, it is involved in making an academic work available as open access (OA), in either a full OA journal or in a hybri ...

s for their

gold open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

journals. He has served on the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society. He currently resides in

Maynooth Maynooth (; ) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's College, Maynoo ...

. Among the places he has previously lived in are

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, Beeston in Nottinghamshire,

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

in London, and

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Research

His primary research interest is in

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

and the

large-scale structure of the Universe The observable universe is a spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observed from Earth; the electromagnetic radiation from these objects has had time to reach the Solar System and Earth since the beginning of th ...

, specifically on theoretical models that try to account for the properties of the

observable universe The observable universe is a Ball (mathematics), spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observation, observed from Earth; the electromagnetic radiation from these astronomical object, objects has had time to reach t ...

, including the

cosmic microwave background The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR), or relic radiation, is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dar ...

and

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. Clusters consist of galax ...

s. He also researches cosmological models that feature

magnetic field A magnetic field (sometimes called B-field) is a physical field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular ...

s, Non-Gaussianity and

asymmetries Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...

, as well as the application of probability and statistics in astronomy and physics. He has taught undergraduate courses in mathematics, statistics, and

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. Along with Francesco Lucchin he wrote a textbook on "Cosmology: the origin and evolution of cosmic structure" (), and a second edition of it was published by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

in July 2002. He is the only Irish-based member of the

Euclid (spacecraft) ''Euclid'' is a wide-angle space telescope with a 600-megapixel camera to record visible light, a near-infrared spectrometer, and photometer, to determine the redshift of detected galaxies. It was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) a ...

collaboration, where he studies the clustering of galaxies. He has a blog named ''In the Dark'', where he writes under the name ''Telescoper'' (an anagram of his name), covering a range of topics including astronomy, science funding, opera, jazz, rugby and crosswords. In 1999 it was one of "Five great physics blogs" listed by the ''Daily Telegraph''.

References

External links

*
Coles' blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Peter People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Sussex Academics of the University of Nottingham Academics of Queen Mary University of London Academics of the University of Sussex Academics of Cardiff University Academics of Maynooth University Living people 21st-century British physicists 21st-century Irish astronomers British cosmologists People from Beeston, Nottinghamshire Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the Institute of Physics 1963 births British LGBTQ scientists 20th-century British physicists 20th-century Irish astronomers