Editing Christopher Isham

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2022}}
{{short description|British theoretical physicist}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Christopher Isham
| image = <!--(filename only)-->
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| birth_date = {{b-da|28 April 1944}}
| birth_place = 
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| nationality = 
| fields = [[Quantum gravity]]<br>[[Quantum mechanics|Quantum theory]] foundations
| workplaces = [[Imperial College London]]
| alma_mater = [[Imperial College London]] (PhD, 1969)
| doctoral_advisor = [[Paul Taunton Matthews]]<ref name=mathgene>{{MathGenealogy|id=69764|title=Christopher John Isham}}</ref>
| academic_advisors = [[Abdus Salam]]<ref>Gordon Fraser, ''Cosmic Anger: Abdus Salam — The First Muslim Nobel Scientist'', OUP, 2008, p. 119.</ref>
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for = Research in [[Quantum gravity]]
| awards = [[IOP Dirac Medal]] (2011)
}}
'''Christopher Isham''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ|ʃ|ə|m}}; born 28 April 1944),<ref>''Who's who of British Scientists'', Vol. 8, Simon Books, 1981</ref> usually cited as '''Chris J. Isham''', is a [[theoretical physicist]] at [[Imperial College London]]. 

==Research==
Isham's main research interests are [[quantum gravity]] and foundational studies in [[Quantum mechanics|quantum theory]]. He was the inventor of an approach to [[temporal logic|temporal]] [[quantum logic]] called the [[HPO formalism]], and has worked on [[loop quantum gravity]] and quantum [[geometrodynamics]]. Together with other physicists, such as [[John C. Baez]], Isham is known as a proponent of the utility of [[category theory]] in theoretical physics. In recent years, since at least 1997, he has been working on a new approach to quantum theory based on [[topos]] theory.

Isham has appeared in several ''[[Nova (American TV series)|NOVA]]'' television programmes as well as a film about [[Stephen Hawking]]. Physicist [[Paul Davies]] has described Isham as "Britain's greatest quantum gravity expert".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=46ARywAACAAJ|title=Christopher Isham|last=Victorino|first=Terrence James|date=2011-10-16|publisher=Log Press|isbn=9786137444726|language=en}}</ref> As a practising [[Christians|Christian]], Isham has also written about the relationships among [[philosophy]], [[theology]], and [[physics]].

==Awards==
* 2011: [[Dirac Medal (IOP)|Dirac Medal]] of the [[Institute of Physics]] for his works on [[quantum gravity]].<ref>[http://www.iop.org/about/awards/gold/dirac/medallists/page_51317.html 2011 Dirac Medal of the Institute of Physics] on the [[Institute of Physics|IOP]] website</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Isham, C. J., Physics, Philosophy, and Theology, 1988
* Christopher Isham, "Quantum Theories of the Creation of the Universe," in R. Russell, N. Murphy and C. J. Isham (eds.), Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1993), p.&nbsp;74.
* Christopher Isham, "Creation of the Universe as a Quantum Tunnelling Process," in (eds. R. J. Russell et al.), Physics, Philosophy and Theology (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1988), pp.&nbsp;375–408.
* Isham, C. J. (1993), "Canonical Quantum Gravity and the Problem of Time", in L. A. Ibort and M. A. Rodríguez (eds.), Integrable Systems, Quantum Groups, and Quantum Field theories. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 157-288.
* Isham, C. J., K. V. Kuchař, "Representations Of Space-Time Diffeomorphisms. 2. Canonical Geometrodynamics," Annals of Physics 164:316 (1985).
* Isham, C. J. (1994), [https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9310031 Prima facie questions in quantum gravity], in Ehlers and Friedrich 25 (1994), 1-21.
* Isham, C. J. (1997), "Structural Issues in Quantum Gravity", in M. Francaviglia et al. (eds.), Florence 1995, General Relativity and Gravitation, World Scientific.
* [[Jeremy Butterfield|Butterfield, Jeremy]], and Chris Isham (1999), "On the Emergence of Time in Quantum Gravity", in Butterfield (1999), 111-168.
* Butterfield, Jeremy, and Christopher Isham (2001), "Spacetime and the Philosophical Challenge of Quantum Gravity", in [[Craig Callender]] and Nick Huggett (eds.) (2001), 33-89.
* Döring, Andreas and Isham, Chris, "What is a Thing?: Topos Theory in the Foundations of Physics", in Bob Coecke, New Structures in Physics, Chapter 13, pp.&nbsp;753–940, Lecture Notes in Physics, 813, Springer, 2011, {{ISBN|978-3-642-12820-2}}, (also see {{arXiv|0803.0417v1}})

==See also==
*[[List of quantum gravity researchers]]
*[[List of Christian thinkers in science]]

==References==
<references />

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isham, Christopher}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Academics of Imperial College London]]
[[Category:British theoretical physicists]]
[[Category:Donegall Lecturers of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:Members of the International Society for Science and Religion]]
[[Category:British Christians]]
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Deans of the Imperial College Faculty of Natural Sciences]]