Joseph Conlon

Theoretical physicist Joseph Conlon explains how he is following in the tradition of early scientists and poets by drawing on his scientific expertise to write two long-form poems on the origins of our universe.

Conlon says there has long been an overlap between science and poetry. Chaucer was an amateur astronomer, Milton broke bread with Galileo and Keats was a doctor. Scientists such as Ada Lovelace and James Clerk Maxwell also wrote poetry. Conlon’s poems, The Elements and The Galaxies, journey from the big bang to the ever-expanding edges of the cosmos.

Conlon is a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oxford. He researches particle physics, string theory, cosmology and astrophysics and his other books include Why String Theory?.