Astrophysicist and cosmologist Martin Rees wins Templeton Prize

Physics Today : Martin Rees may be the first atheist to win the Templeton Prize , which used to have the word “religion” in its title. Now the prize “honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.” The selection of Rees, an astrophysicist and cosmologist at the University of Cambridge, was announced on 6 April.

The annual prize was founded in 1972 by financier John Templeton. Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn are among the best-known laureates, but religious leaders of many faiths, businessmen, and philosophers also have been awarded the prize. In the past decade, seven of the recipients have been physicists. The purse always exceeds that of the Nobel Prize; this year it is $1.6 million."I see my work as having connections to big questions. I have focused on as yet unsolved problems in cosmology,” said Rees. “Of course, issues of cosmology, physical laws, the question ‘Is there life in space?’ have philosophical and religious implications. I have no religious beliefs, but I am not allergic to religion.” Rees has authored or coauthored 10 books; his latest, What We Still Don’t Know, will come out next year and deals with whether there are intrinsic limits to scientific knowledge, the possibility of organic or inorganic post-human evolution, extraterrestrial life, and the mulitverse.In his acceptance speech, Rees said, “Our planet has existed for 45 million centuries, but this is the first [time] in its history where one species—ours—has Earth’s future in its hands, and could jeopardize not only itself, but life’s immense potential.” That is why, he continued, over the past decade he has become “more engaged with issues of science policy and ethics, and global problems generally."Elaborating, Rees told Physics Today that the two main threats to the planet are “that there are more of us, and we are collectively having more impact on the biosphere,” and “because individuals are more empowered by technology, we as a society are more vulnerable to small groups of people. Those are the difficulties of governance we will have to contend with."Toni Feder