Roger Penrose

Roger Penrose is an English mathematician and mathematical physicist who argued, in The Emperor's New Mind (1989) and Shadows of the Mind (1994), that the mind's rational processes cannot be duplicated by a computer. Trained at University College London and Cambridge, where he completed a PhD in algebraic geometry in 1957, he proved in 1965 that a singularity must occur in gravitational collapse and held Oxford's Rouse Ball Professorship of Mathematics from 1973 to 1998. With anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff, he developed Orch-OR, a theory that ties consciousness to quantum gravity effects in neuronal microtubules. His honours include the 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics, shared with Stephen Hawking, and half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for showing that black hole formation is a robust prediction of general relativity. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor at Oxford and an emeritus fellow of Wadham College, and in October 2026 he joined a remote panel asking whether AI can be conscious.

Now at: University of Oxford
Born: 1931
Badges: Laureate
Loyal
Pioneer

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

1952–1957

Mathematics at UCL and Cambridge

He earns a first-class mathematics degree at University College London in 1952. At Cambridge, he publishes "A generalized inverse for matrices" in 1955, reintroducing what is now called the Moore–Penrose inverse, and completes a PhD in algebraic geometry under John Todd in 1957. A Cambridge course on mathematical logic introduces him to Turing machines and Gödel's theorems, which convince him that human understanding cannot be a computational process.
1964–1967

Singularity theorem at Birkbeck

He becomes a Reader at Birkbeck College, London, in 1964 and Professor of Applied Mathematics there in 1966. In 1965, he proves that a singularity must occur in gravitational collapse once a trapped surface forms, and he introduces twistor theory in 1967.
1973–1998

Rouse Ball Professor at Oxford

In 1973, he becomes Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, and he holds the chair until he becomes emeritus in 1998. His Penrose tilings of 1974 use two tiles that can cover the plane only nonperiodically. He is knighted for services to science in 1994.
1988

A Wolf Prize with Hawking

He shares the 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics with Stephen W. Hawking for their development of general relativity, which shows the necessity for cosmological singularities and elucidates the physics of black holes.
1989–1990

The Emperor's New Mind

In 1989, he publishes The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics, arguing that the mind's rational processes are not completely algorithmic and so cannot be duplicated by a computer. The book wins the Science Book Prize in 1990. Marvin Minsky, an advocate of artificial intelligence, criticizes the argument sharply.
1994–2014

Orch-OR with Stuart Hameroff

He answers critics with Shadows of the Mind in 1994. After reading The Emperor's New Mind, anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff of the University of Arizona proposes neuronal microtubules as sites where Penrose's objective reduction could act, and the two develop Orch-OR, which ties consciousness to quantum gravity effects in microtubules. An updated version of the theory appears with critical commentary in Physics of Life Reviews in March 2014.
2020

A Nobel Prize in Physics

In March 2020, he discusses consciousness and computation on Lex Fridman's Artificial Intelligence podcast. He receives one half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity; Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez share the other half.
As of October 2026

Emeritus professor at Oxford

He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and an emeritus fellow of Wadham College. In January 2026, he speaks on entropy regulation at the origin of the universe at the Nature of Reality Seminar at Wolfson College, Oxford. In October 2026, he joins "Is AI Conscious?", a remote panel at The Science of Consciousness conference on whether artificial intelligence can be conscious.

Career

Since 1973University of OxfordRouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics
1964–1966Birkbeck, University of LondonReader, Professor of Applied Mathematics