Wonders Of The Universe – Jim Al-Khalili

“Our universe is full of wonder, and we are not around very long as measured on a cosmic time scale. So we’d better make sure we achieve what we can and appreciate life to the fullest.”

As a well-respected quantum physicist and ‘public scientist’ who regularly goes on television to promote science, Jim Al-Khalili remains humble about his popularity and achievements.

On the professional side, Jim is a professor of physics at the University of Surrey, where he also holds a chair in the Public Engagement in Science. In 1994, Al-Khalili was awarded an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Advanced Research Fellowship for five years, during which time he established himself as a leading expert on mathematical models of exotic atomic nuclei. He has published widely in his field.

Some of his other accolades include being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to science and public engagement in STEM in 2021. In 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (DSc) from the University of London. Al-Khalili was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018

On the public side, Jim is a prominent author and broadcaster who has written 14 books on popular science and the history of science, translated into twenty-six languages. He has also presented numerous TV documentaries and radio programmes, mostly for the BBC.

In an interview with us, Jim opened up about his journey immigrating from Iraq to the UK and how he fell in love with physics, delving into the topic he became so passionate about sharing with everyone outside of the scientific community.

EARLY LIFE

Tell us more about your family background and share with us on what it was like growing up.

My father came to the UK as a young Iraqi student to study engineering where he met my English mother, a librarian. She fell for the ‘nice, dark, foreign man with the kind eyes.’ They dated, married and moved to Iraq – a place that my mother always referred to as ‘the start of her great adventure’.

Although my parents initially settled down in Baghdad, we moved around quite a lot, depending on where my father was based as an electrical engineer in the Iraqi air force. I was born in Baghdad in 1962, the eldest of four siblings. It was a very pleasant and idyllic childhood really, and I have so many fond memories.

We spoke English at home and my mother taught me to read and write. By the time I started kindergarten we had moved north of Mosul. That is where I learnt to speak Arabic with the friends I made there. From then on, all my schooling until the age of 16 was in Arabic.

By the late 70s, my parents knew that life in Iraq was going to get tougher with Saddam Hussain ready to take over power, especially for a Shia Muslim man like my father, married to a Christian British woman. So, we left in July 1979 for Britain to start a new life. This was quite natural for me and my siblings since we had visited England on many occasions throughout our lives to stay with my maternal grandparents.

On the whole, I just feel lucky. My life could have turned out very differently. For instance, if we had delayed leaving Iraq by just six months we would not have been allowed to leave and I would have been conscripted to fight in that awful and senseless war with Iran, in which many of my school friends I left behind lost their lives to.

How did your upbringing shape the person you are today?

Growing up in a loving household meant that I learnt two cultures. Despite having a Muslim father and Christian mother, I never felt conflicted or pulled in different directions. I learnt that ‘Allah;’ was just Arabic for God. However, I suspected my curious mind and, later, my scientific training, had me questioning the nature of reality and the existence of a supernatural creator.

I turned away from religion in my late teens. But my parents had instilled in me values such as honesty, compassion and morality that really had nothing to do with their faiths. These are traits I hope my wife and I have instilled in our children.

How would you sum up your childhood?

Happy, loving, carefree. Life in Iraq in the 60s and 70s were lightyears away from the troubles the country has endured since I left it. I was bright at school and all subjects came easily to me. My mother had studied art and music at college and she instilled in me a love of those subjects. They became hobbies I pursued at home, such as painting and playing the piano. I even made my own guitar from scratch.

I was obsessed with football of course, as were all my friends, and from about the age of twelve, I also developed an interest in music and girls.

So, I was pretty normal I would say. I didn’t fall in love with physics until my mid-teens, but when I did, I knew that was what I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life: to try to understand the workings of the universe. Even today, nearly half a century later, I still enjoy sport and music, but they get squeezed out by my continuing obsession with science.

JOURNEY

What got you interested in science and more specifically nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and quantum biology in the beginning?

I fell in love with physics thanks to an inspiring teacher (isn’t that always the way?). I remember performing well in a class test at the age of fourteen and realising that I was better at that subject than all my peers. Figuring out physics problems just came naturally to me. I preferred physics far more than chemistry and biology, both of which involved memorising names and concepts.

After all, for me physics was just a mixture of puzzle solving and common sense. I also realised it was the subject I had to study if I wanted answers to the big questions, such as – what are stars made of? Does space go on forever? What are the smallest particles made of? What is time?

I studied physics at the University of Surrey in England (in fact where I still work today) and initially had no plans for what I wanted to do after graduation. But by my final year, I knew my passion was to become an academic researcher. I didn’t choose nuclear physics as my PhD area; it chose me. One of my professors, who presumably saw something in me, offered me the chance to work with him in a field called nuclear reaction theory – a highly mathematical area involving solving the equations of quantum mechanics and writing computer codes to study the nature of atomic nuclei and how they react with each other.

But it was quantum mechanics itself – the weird and beautiful theory that describes the microscopic world, that has been my lifelong passion. So, in recent years I have moved away from studying atomic nuclei to applying quantum mechanics in other areas, such as inside living cells, hence the new field of ‘quantum biology’.

What were some hard decisions you had to make and challenges you faced along the way?

To be honest, I have not had to make many hard decisions. I look back over my life and career and realise I made some smart choices, but at the time I guess things just happened. Maybe I was subconsciously working out what paths to take, but I never felt particularly torn between choices, nor can I say that I have any regrets about the way things have turned out.

I have a successful career which I absolutely love, a loving wife to whom I have been married for 35 years and a wonderful son and daughter who now lead their own happy and fulfilling lives.

What are some memorable moments or anecdotes you could share with us while you were on this journey?

There have been many memorable moments in my career, but I feel those associated with my physics research are not likely to mean very much to the wider public. More interesting might be some of the highlights of my life as a science communicator. Making my TV documentaries, for example, have allowed me to travel around the world and visit locations I would never have had the chance to otherwise.

For instance, in 2009 – I made a three-part documentary on the history of science in the mediaeval Islamic world, which took me and my crew to a number of exotic locations to do filming.

One memorable trip was to Northern Iran to find the archaeological remains of a 12th century observatory high in a mountain fortress called Alamut. Not only was the science story I was telling so fascinating, but the trip itself was a great adventure.

A particular highlight from my science communication career was winning the inaugural Stephen Hawking medal, given to me by Hawking himself at a ceremony in Tenerife. He had watched a number of my documentaries and said I had explained quantum mechanics more clearly than he had ever heard. I was extremely flattered of course.

 

 

ACHIEVEMENTS

Which achievements/milestones are you most proud of and why?

I am not saying this because I feel I should, but by far my greatest achievement is playing my part in bringing up our two children and watching them grow into decent and happy human beings. So, obviously the days on which they were born are my most memorable.

But in terms of career milestones and achievements, I think it’s fair to say that being elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and signing the same Fellows’ book as Isaac Newton, is at the top of the pile. Being acknowledged in this way is every scientist’s dream.

What do you think are the key ingredients to your success?

Well, it certainly isn’t because I’m a genius – I know many people who are smarter than me. But personality plays a role too, or more correctly, emotional intelligence. I am able not only to grasp and understand difficult concepts in physics myself, but I can put them in a way that others without my training can also appreciate and understand.

So, in a sense, I would say the key ingredients of my success have been serendipity (at certain moments in my life), curiosity (the obsession to want to understand) and empathy (with an audience when trying to convey the wonders of the universe).

I should also add that a major ingredient in my success has been having a wonderfully supportive wife, Julie, who has encouraged me and been there for me throughout my career.

What lies ahead in terms of your goals and ambitions?

Having spent a big fraction of my time over the past two decades communicating science, either through my TV documentaries, radio and podcast work or my popular science books, I have never forgotten the ‘day job’: that I am first and foremost a research physicist.

I have recently started to get back to my research work in a serious way and I am loving it. I am the lead scientist on a multi-million-dollar research project to explore the nature of time in the quantum world.

This is going to take up much of my energy and I am hugely excited to be working with an international team of physicists, chemists, mathematicians, biologists and philosophers.

So, it’s very interdisciplinary and addresses some fundamental questions in science. But I won’t give up on writing and broadcasting either. I just want to do it all.

PERSONAL (LIFE)

What is your life motto (Or core values) if any?

As a humanist, I want to show empathy, compassion and kindness, not because a holy book tells me to, but because it defines my humanity. As a scientist I would say that my core values are to always exhibit honesty and integrity; and where there are conflicting views, as is often the case in science, to be able to disagree with others without being disagreeable.

In everyday life, I can boil my motto down to just two words: Be nice.

To you, what are the most important things in life?

It is to be able to see the other person’s point of view, to examine my own biases before I judge others, and finally to try and live happily and without stress. Our universe is full of wonder, and we are not around very long as measured on a cosmic time scale. So we’d better make sure we achieve what we can and appreciate life to the full.

What’s worth mentioning on your life’s bucket list that you have not done?

Well, it’s certainly not the usual stuff like climbing Mount Everest or skydiving or bungee jumping, nor trying psychedelic drugs, or going to space.

For me it is much less ambitious – I want to get better at playing the guitar, and maybe to have a physics equation that I have discovered named after me.

Why do you do what you do? (What drives you everyday)

Both an obsession with and sheer curiosity about the workings of the Universe and my place in it.

Who are the role models and influences in your life?

There are many people I admire, both in my field of science, from mentors such as my PhD supervisor Ron Johnson and the head of my department at Surrey, Bill Gelletly, who encouraged me to first dip my toe into the world of science communication, to heroes and inspirational figures from the worlds of art, politics and literature.

Ultimately, I would say that my wife, Julie, has had the most influence on how I have developed as a person and I feel, made me a better all-round human being.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind?

I’d like to think that I would have inspired many people to take up science and to appreciate the wonders of nature, as well as to develop a rational, enlightened view of the world.

What are some life lessons you will take to your grave?

As a scientist, knowing that the laws of the Universe are logical and comprehensible. As a member of society, it is important to have empathy and compassion for my fellow humans and not to judge others too harshly before I have examined my own prejudices.

VIEWPOINTS

You can be seen as a ‘public scientist’ who has written numerous books as well as presenting numerous TV documentaries and radio programmes over the years. Why do you think that it is important for the public to be up-to-date on the latest happenings in the scientific community, especially in relation to physics?

A few years ago, I would have cited a couple of reasons for this. The first is the obvious one: that I hope to inspire the next generation of scientists and instil in them a curiosity and fascination with the world around them.

The second is that I feel it is important to imbed science into popular culture so that the wider public feel just as comfortable discussing scientific concepts as they are talking about politics, sport, art, music and literature. To some extent this is happening now, at least in some sectors of society.

However, since the pandemic started in 2020, I have realised that there is potentially an even more important motivation, which is to ensure that we have a scientifically literate society in which people are able to make informed decisions about all sorts of issues that come up in daily life, from understanding public health advice about Covid-19 to how to play a role in tackling climate change.

This requires an understanding of how the process of science works, from acknowledging uncertainty to the willingness to change one’s mind in the light of new data and evidence.

Ultimately however, I love being able to inspire and fascinate the public by instilling in them the same sense of awe and wonder about the universe that I feel.

What kind of innovation do you see in nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and quantum biology at the moment and where do you see new applications in the world in the next 3 to 5 years?

I think the next big advances in science are going to come at the interface of several disciplines that study the world at the tiniest length scales.

The first is quantum technologies, which is seeing exciting developments in areas such as quantum sensing and quantum computing.

Then there is synthetic biology, in which new devices are created and engineered by borrowing tricks from nature and sometimes even engineering or modifying tiny organisms to perform new tasks.

There is also the vast and rapidly developing area of nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of matter down at the molecular and atomic scale to produce new structures.

This is why the area of quantum biology where I am working is so exciting: if life has evolved the ability to utilise the tricks of the quantum world in the way it manipulates atoms and molecules then we can borrow those tricks.

So, I see a coming together of all these areas into what I call quantum bioengineering.

How do you think nuclear physics, quantum mechanics and quantum biology can be relevant to our daily individual lives? 

Well, the science in these areas is still in its infancy. So it is hard to make predictions or promises about what it might deliver in the way of medical advances in the future.

For example, we have recently discovered that quantum mechanics plays an important role in genetic mutations.

If this is borne out by experimental data then it may have a big role to play in many areas of biology and medicine, from virology to cancer.