Jim (Jameel) Al-Khalili is an Iraqi-born British professor of physics, author and broadcaster based at the University of Surrey where he currently teaches and conducts theoretical research in theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. He also holds a second chair in the Public Engagement in Science (since 2005). He received his PhD in nuclear physics in 1989 from Surrey before working as an SERC Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London. He returned to Surrey and was awarded a five year EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship in 1994 before being appointed as a permanent member of staff in 1999.

He is active as a science communicator and has written a number of popular science and history of science books, between them translated into over twenty languages. His book, Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science, was shortlisted for the Warwick Prize in 2013. His latest is Life on the Edge: the coming of age of quantum biology was shortlisted for the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize.
He is a regular presenter of TV science documentaries, including the Bafta nominated Chemistry: A Volatile History and Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity both for the BBC. His latest programme was the 6-parter: A Golden Age of Science, aired in 2105 on Al Jazeera English. For the past four years he has presented the award-winning weekly BBC Radio 4 programme, The Life Scientific.

Jim is a recipient of the Royal Society Michael Faraday medal and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal and has several honorary degrees. He received an OBE in 2007 for ‘services to science’.