Nationality British Name Robert Matthews | Alma mater Corpus Christi College Role Physicist | |
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Full Name Robert A.J. Matthews Born 23 September 1959 (age 64) Carshalton, United Kingdom ( 1959-09-23 ) Occupation PhysicistMathematicianComputer scientistJournalist Education Corpus Christi College, Oxford Books Why Don't Spiders Stick to T, Q & A: Cosmic Conundr, 25 Big Ideas in Science, A Storme Out of Wales: Th, 25 Big Ideas: the Science T | ||
Robert A.J. Matthews (born 23 September 1959), is a British physicist, mathematician, computer scientist, and journalist.
Robert Matthews read Physics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, where he graduated in 1981. He is currently Visiting Reader in Science at the Department of Information Engineering, Aston University.
Matthews is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a Chartered Physicist, a Member of the Institute of Physics, and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
In December 2005, Matthews had 43 refereed academic publications and four contributed chapters in research areas including mathematics, statistics, encryption algorithms, neural networks, geophysics and astronomy.
Matthews is a distinguished science journalist. He is currently anchorman for the science magazine BBC Focus, and a freelance columnist for the Financial Times. In the past, he has been science correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph, technology correspondent for The Times, and a freelance contributor to The Economist. Amongst other professional awards, in 2000, he was awarded Feature Writer of the Year by the Association of British Science Writers.
Matthews is also the author of three successful popular science books, 25 Big Ideas in Science (2005), Q&A: Cosmic Conundrums and Everyday Mysteries of Science (2005) and Unravelling the Mind of God: Mysteries at the Frontiers of Science (London: Virgin 1992).
In 1996, Matthews received an Ig Nobel Prize for his paper Tumbling toast, Murphy's Law and the fundamental constants.