British science writer and astrophysicist (born 1946)
John Gribbin
Born John R. Gribbin (1946-03-19 ) 19 March 1946 (age 78)
Maidstone , Kent, England Occupation Science writer and journalist Nationality British Alma mater
University of Sussex (
BA ,
MSc )
University of Cambridge (
PhD ) Period Last quarter of the 20th century, beginning of the 21st century Genre Science (origins of the universe, astronomy, cosmology); biography; fiction Subject Astronomy and astrophysics; popularising science and its history; climate change and global warming Spouse Mary Gribbin
John R. Gribbin (born 19 March 1946)
[1] is a British science writer, an
astrophysicist , and a visiting fellow in
astronomy at the
University of Sussex .
[2] His writings include
quantum physics ,
human evolution ,
climate change ,
global warming , the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.
Biography
John Gribbin graduated with his
bachelor's degree in
physics from the
University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his
Master of Science (MSc) degree in astronomy in 1967, also from the University of Sussex, and he earned his PhD in
astrophysics from the
University of Cambridge (1971).
[3]
[4]
In 1968, Gribbin worked as one of
Fred Hoyle 's research students at the
Institute of Theoretical Astronomy , and wrote a number of stories for
New Scientist about the Institute's research and what were eventually discovered to be
pulsars .
[5]
In 1974, Gribbin, along with
Stephen Plagemann , published a book titled
The Jupiter Effect , which predicted that the alignment of the planets in a quadrant on one side of the Sun on 10 March 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the
San Andreas Fault , possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs.
[6]
Gribbin distanced himself from The Jupiter Effect in the 17 July 1980, issue of New Scientist magazine, stating that he had been "too clever by half".
[7]
In February 1982, he and Plagemann published The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered , claiming that the 1980
Mount St. Helens
eruption proved their theory true despite a lack of planetary alignment. In 1999, Gribbin repudiated it, saying "I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it."
[8]
In 1984, Gribbin published
In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality .
[9] The Spectator Book Club described it as among the best of the first wave of physics popularisations preceding
Stephen Hawking 's multi-million-selling
A Brief History of Time .
[10] Gribbin's book was cited by BBC World News as an example of how to revive an interest in the study of mathematics.
[11]
In 2006, Gribbin took part in a BBC radio 4 broadcast as an "expert witness". Presenter
Matthew Parris discussed with
Professor Kathy Sykes and Gribbin whether
Albert Einstein "really was a 'crazy genius' ".
[12]
At the 2009 World Conference of Science Journalists, the
Association of British Science Writers presented Gribbin with their Lifetime Achievement award.
[13]
Critical response to Gribbin's writings
The conservative political magazine
The Spectator described Gribbin as "one of the finest and most prolific writers of popular science around" in a review of Science: A History , which it praises as "the product of immense learning, and a lifetime spent working out how to write in a vivacious way about science and scientists".
[10]
Henry Gee, a senior editor at
Nature , described Gribbin as "one of the best science writers around".[
citation needed ]
A review of The Universe: A Biography in the journal
Physics World praised his skill in explaining difficult ideas.
[14]
A
Wall Street Journal review of Flower Hunters (co-authored with Mary Gribbin) described the writing as "pedestrian", with plenty of domestic detail but a failure to convey a larger cultural context. It stated that the book's chapter-length biographical sketches are too often superficial, and criticised the book for glaring omissions of prominent plant collectors.
[15]
In a review of The Reason Why , the
Times Higher Education states that Gribbin writes on speculative matters and presents some of his theories without supporting evidence, but noted his comprehensive research and lyrical writing.
[16]
Works
Science
(1999) Almost Everyone's Guide to Science: The Universe, Life, and Everything ,
Yale University Press ,
ISBN
0-300-08460-9
(1999) Get a Grip on New Physics ,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson , London.
ISBN
0-297-82703-0
(1999) The Little Book of Science ,
Barnes and Noble ,
ISBN
978-0-7607-1687-8
(2003) Science: A History 1543–2001 ,
Gardners Books ,
ISBN
0-14-029741-3
(2003) The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors ,
Random House ,
ISBN
0-8129-6788-7
(2006) The Fellowship: The Story of a Revolution ,
Allen Lane ,
ISBN
0-7139-9745-1 (the story of the
Royal Society )
(2006) History of Western Science, 1543-2001 ,
Folio Society , London [2nd edition of Science: A History, 1543-2001 , with minor amendments and a new preface by the author].
(2009) Flower Hunters ,
Oxford University Press , with Mary Gribbin, 320 pages,
ISBN
978-0-19-956182-7
(2010) In Search of the
Multiverse : Parallel Worlds, Hidden Dimensions, and the Ultimate Quest for the Frontiers of Reality ,
Wiley ,
ISBN
0-4706-1352-1
(2017) Out of the shadow of a giant: Hooke, Halley and the birth of British science . London: William Collins. 2017.
ISBN
978-0-00-822059-4 .
OCLC
966239842 . (with Mary Gribbin)
Children's books on science
(2000) Eyewitness: Time & Space ,
DK Children ,
ISBN
0-7894-5578-1
(2003) Big Numbers: A Mind Expanding Trip to Infinity and Back (co-author Mary Gribbin), Wizard Books (children's imprint of Icon Books) 2005 edition
ISBN
1-84046-661-8
(2003) How far is up? : Measuring the Size of the Universe (co-author Mary Gribbin), Icon Books, 2005 edition
ISBN
1-84046-439-9
(2008) Time Travel for Beginners (co-author Mary Gribbin), Hodder Children's,
ISBN
978-0-340-95702-8
Predictions
The Sun
Quantum physics
(1984)
In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality ,
Bantam Books ,
ISBN
0-553-34253-3 (reprinted in 2012 by Random House
ISBN
978-1-4464-2376-9 )
(1996)
Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality ,
Back Bay Books ,
ISBN
0-316-32819-7
(1998) Q Is for Quantum: An Encyclopedia of Particle Physics ,
Free Press ,
ISBN
0-684-85578-X
(2002) Quantum Physics (Essential Science) ,
Dorling Kindersley ,
ISBN
978-0-7513-3976-5
(2007) (in French) La physique quantique ,
Pearson Education ,
ISBN
978-2-7440-7263-5
(2014) Computing with Quantum Cats: From Colossus to Qubits ,
Prometheus Books ,
ISBN
978-1-6161-4921-5
(2019) Six Impossible Things: The 'Quanta of Solace' and the Mysteries of the Subatomic World , Icon Books,
ISBN
978-1785784996
Evolution and human genetics
(1982) The Monkey Puzzle: A Family Tree (co-author Jeremy Cherfas),
Pantheon Books ,
ISBN
0-394-52794-1
(1988) The One Percent Advantage: The Sociobiology of Being Human ,
Blackwell Publishers ,
ISBN
978-0-631-16004-5
(1990) Children of the Ice: Climate and Human Origins , Blackwell Publishers (with Mary Gribben)
ISBN
978-0-631-16817-1
(1993) Being Human: Putting People in an Evolutionary Perspective , J.M .Dent & Sons (with Mary Gribben)
ISBN
978-0-460-86164-9
(1985) In Search of the Double Helix , McGraw-Hill,
ISBN
978-0-07-024740-6
(1985) The Redundant Male: Is Sex Irrelevant in the Modern World? (co-author Jeremy Cherfas) Paladin,
ISBN
978-0-586-08503-5
(2003) The Mating Game (revised edition of The Redundant Male ), Barnes and Noble,
ISBN
978-0-7607-4543-4
(2003) The First Chimpanzee: In Search of Human Origins (co-author Jeremy Cherfas), Barnes and Noble,
ISBN
978-0-7607-4542-7
Climate change and other concerns
(1975) Our Changing Climate ,
Faber and Faber ,
ISBN
978-0-571-10696-7
(1976) Forecasts, Famines, and Freezes: Climates and Man's Future ,
Wildwood House Ltd ,
ISBN
978-0-7045-0193-5
(1977) Our Changing Planet , Wildwood House Limited
ISBN
0-690-01693-X
(1978) Climatic Change , Cambridge University Press
ISBN
978-0-521-21594-7
(1978) The climatic threat: What's wrong with our weather? , Fontana
ISBN
978-0-00-634832-0
(1979) Climate and Mankind , Earthscan, 56 pp
ISBN
978-0-905347-12-7
(1979) This Shaking Earth (aka Earthquakes & Volcanoes ) Sidgwick & Jackson,
ISBN
978-0-283-98462-4
(1979) Weather Force: Climate and Its Impact on Our World (co-author: John Man), Putnam Pub Group,
ISBN
978-0-399-12400-6
(1981) Carbon Dioxide, Climate, and Man , Intl Inst for Environment, 64 pp.
ISBN
978-0-905347-28-8
(1982) Future Weather and the Greenhouse Effect , Delacorte Press,
ISBN
978-0-440-02498-9
(1985) Weather , Macdonald Education, 48 pp.
ISBN
978-0-356-11183-4
(1986) The Breathing Planet (editor) Blackwell Publishers,
ISBN
978-0-631-14288-1
(1988) The Hole in the Sky: Man's Threat to the Ozone Layer (rev. ed, 1993) Bantam,
ISBN
978-0-553-27537-7
(1989) Winds of Change , Hodder Arnold,
ISBN
978-0-340-52283-7
(1990) Hothouse Earth: The Greenhouse Effect and Gaia , Random House,
ISBN
978-0-517-07951-5
(1992) Too Hot to Handle? Greenhouse Effect , Corgi,
ISBN
978-0-552-54295-1
(1996) Watching the Weather , Trafalgar Square,
ISBN
978-0-09-477380-6
(2018) "
Alone in the Milky Way: Why we are probably the only intelligent life in the galaxy ",
Scientific American , vol. 319, no. 3 (September 2018), pp. 94–99.
Astronomy and description of the Universe
(1976) Astronomy for the Amateur , Macmillan,
ISBN
978-0-333-18806-4
(1976) Our Changing Universe: The New Astronomy , Dutton,
ISBN
978-0-87690-216-5
(1977)
White Holes : Cosmic Gushers in the Universe , Delacorte Press/E. Friede,
ISBN
978-0-440-09529-3
(1979) Timewarps , Delacorte Press/E. Friede,
ISBN
978-0-440-08509-6
(1981) Future Worlds , Springer,
ISBN
978-0-306-40780-2
(1982) Cosmology Today (editor and contributor), IPC Media,
ISBN
978-0-85037-518-3
(1983) Spacewarps: Black Holes, White Holes, Quasars, and the Universe , Delta,
ISBN
978-0-14-022531-0
(1988) The Omega Point: The Search for the Missing Mass and the Ultimate Fate of the Universe , Bantam,
ISBN
978-0-553-34515-5
(1989) Cosmic Coincidences:
Dark Matter , Mankind, and Anthropic Cosmology , Bantam,
ISBN
0-553-34740-3
(1992) In Search of the Edge of Time: Black Holes, White Holes, Worm Holes , Bantam Books,
ISBN
978-0-593-02409-6 (US title Unveiling the Edge of Time , Three Rivers Press. 1994 reprint:
ISBN
0-517-88170-5 )
(1994) Time and Space , as Eyewitness: Time and Space (2000), DK Children,
ISBN
978-0-7894-5578-9
(1996) Companion to the Cosmos , John and Mary Gribbin, Little:
ISBN
0-316-32835-9
(1997) Time and the Universe (Whats the Big Idea) (children's), Hodder & Stoughton,
ISBN
978-0-340-65590-0
(1998) The Case of the
Missing Neutrinos : And Other Phenomena of the Universe , Fromm Intl.
ISBN
978-0-88064-199-9
(1998) The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything , Little, Brown and Company,
ISBN
978-0-316-32975-0
(1998) Watching the Universe , Constable,
ISBN
978-0-09-478230-3
(2001) Space: Our Final Frontier , BBC Books,
ISBN
978-0-563-53713-7
(2001) Hyperspace: The Universe and Its Mysteries (also pub as Space: Our Final Frontier ), DK ADULT,
ISBN
978-0-7894-7838-2
(2008) Galaxies:
A Very Short Introduction , Oxford University Press, USA.
ISBN
978-0-19-923434-9
(2007) The Universe: A Biography , Allen Lane,
ISBN
0-7139-9857-1
(2008) From Here to Infinity:
The Royal Observatory Greenwich Guide to Astronomy (with Mary Gribbin),
National Maritime Museum ,
ISBN
978-0-948065-78-1 ; republished in 2009 as From Here to Infinity: A Beginner's Guide to Astronomy , Sterling
ISBN
978-1-4027-6501-8
(2011) Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique , John Wiley & Sons,
ISBN
978-1-118-14797-9
(2016) Einstein's Masterwork: 1915 and the General Theory of Relativity , Pegasus Books
ISBN
978-1-681-77212-7
Origins of the Universe
(1976) Galaxy Formation: A Personal View , Wiley,
ISBN
978-0-470-32775-3
(1982) Genesis: The Origins of Man and the Universe , Delacorte Press,
ISBN
978-0-385-28321-2
(1986) In Search of the Big Bang , Bantam,
ISBN
0-553-34617-2
(1993) In the Beginning: The Birth of the Living Universe (In the Beginning , Viking,
ISBN
978-0-670-84927-7
(1994) In the Beginning: After
COBE and before the Big Bang , Bulfinch Press,
ISBN
978-0-316-32833-3
(1997) Origins: Our Place in Hubble's Universe , Constable and Robinson
ISBN
978-0-09-477550-3 (as Empire of the Sun , '98; as Cosmos '06)
(2001) The Birth of Time: How Astronomers Measured the
Age of the Universe , Yale University Press,
ISBN
0-300-08914-7 (2009 edition
ISBN
978-0-300-08914-1 )
(2004) Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order To
Chaos And
Complexity , Random House, 2004,
ISBN
978-1-4000-6256-0
(2015) 13.8: The Quest to Find the True Age of the Universe and the Theory of Everything , Icon Books,
ISBN
978-1-84831-918-9
Novels
Biographies
(1992) Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science (co-author
Michael White ),
National Academies Press
ISBN
0-452-26988-1 , 2002 edition:
ISBN
0-309-08410-5
(1993) Einstein : A Life in Science (co-author Michael White),
Simon & Schuster
ISBN
0-671-01044-1
(1995)
Darwin : A Life in Science (co-author Michael White), Dutton Adult
ISBN
978-0-525-94002-9
(1997) Darwin in 90 Minutes (with Mary Gribbin), Constable and Robinson
ISBN
978-0-09-477050-8 (Part of a series including: Curie
ISBN
978-0-09-477020-1 , Einstein
ISBN
978-0-09-477130-7 , Faraday
ISBN
978-0-09-477100-0 , Galileo
ISBN
978-0-09-477110-9 , Halley
ISBN
978-0-09-477030-0 , Mendel
ISBN
978-0-09-477120-8 , Newton
ISBN
978-0-09-477040-9 )
(1997)
Richard Feynman : A Life in Science (co-author Mary Gribbin),
Penguin Books
ISBN
0-14-025334-3
(2003)
FitzRoy : The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast , Yale University Press
ISBN
0-300-10361-1
(2005)
Annus Mirabilis : 1905,
Albert Einstein , and the Theory of Relativity (co-author Mary Gribbin), Chamberlain Bros.
ISBN
1-59609-144-4 (includes DVD)
(2009) He Knew He Was Right: The Irrepressible Life of
James Lovelock and
Gaia (co-author Mary Gribbin), Allen Lane.
ISBN
978-1-84614-016-7
(2009)
Not Fade Away: The Life and Music of Buddy Holly (co-author Mary Gribbin) Icon,
ISBN
9781848313835
(2013)
Erwin Schrodinger and the Quantum Revolution , Wiley,
ISBN
1-1182-9926-4
References
^
"Dr John Gribbin's Biography" . Debrett's People of Today . Archived from
the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2013 .
^ "A change in the weather by Gary Turbak" The Rotarian magazine, Aug 1980, p.17
^
Profile of John Gribbin at David Higham
Archived 4 November 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
^
"Profile of John Gribbin at a Popular Science site (not related to the magazine)" . Archived from
the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2018 .
^ Mitton, Simon (2011).
Fred Hoyle: A life in science . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 268.
ISBN
978-0-521-18947-7 .
^
Kruszelnicki, Karl S. (5 November 2001).
"Planetary Alignment – Part 2" . Dr Karl .
Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 13 November 2023 .
^ Gedney, Larry (8 February 1982).
"The Jupiter Effect: Article #526" . Alaska Science Forum .
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Geophysical Institute . Archived from
the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2008 .
^ Gribbin, John (1999).
The Little Book of Science . New York: Barnes & Noble Books. p.
39 .
ISBN
0-7607-1687-0 .
^ Kurutz, Steven (3 December 2009).
"How to Boost Book Sales? For "Get a Grip on Physics," Tiger Woods' Crash Helped" . The Wall Street Journal Speakeasy Blog . New York, NY: Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Retrieved 25 December 2011 .
^
a
b Macfarlane, Robert (28 September 2002).
"Quod erat demonstrandum: Science: a history, 1543–2001 , by John Gribbin" . Spectator Book Club, book reviews . The Spectator. Archived from
the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2011 .
^ Kenyon, Georgina (25 August 2002).
"Firing interest in maths lessons" . BBC News World Edition, UK: Education . Retrieved 30 December 2011 .
^ Parris, Matthew (26 December 2006).
"Albert Einstein" . Great Lives . BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 26 December 2011 . In the BBC radio 4 broadcast, Parris refers to Gribbin as their "expert witness". This is not to downplay the impressive credentials mentioned for Kathy Sykes.
^
"Winners - ABSW Awards - Association of British Science Writers (ABSW)" . Association of British Science Writers . Archived from
the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2018 .
^
Rowan-Robinson, Michael (June 2007).
"Life, the universe and everything" .
Physics World . 20 (6). Institute of Physics Publishing: 46–47.
doi :
10.1088/2058-7058/20/6/38 . Retrieved 23 December 2011 .
^ Garmey, Jane (10 May 2008).
"The Age of Botanical Exploration: Flower Hunters by Mary and John Gribbin" . Books, Wall Street Journal, page W8 . Retrieved 29 December 2011 .
^ Dartnell, Lewis; Darracott-Cankovic, Chloe (12 May 2011).
"The Reason Why: The miracle of life on earth" . The Times Higher Education . TSL Education Ltd. Retrieved 30 December 2011 .
External links
International National Academics People Other