1992 Fredericton Convocation
Penrose, Roger
Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
Orator: Patterson, Stephen E.
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1992
ROGER PENROSE
to be Doctor of Science
When he was just a boy growing up in England, Roger Penrose discovered that when he had tired of whatever games his neighbourhood playmates suggested, he could resort to a whole new world of fun and games in the world of mathematics. And if he didn't care for the games already known, he could make up his own. With the help of his father, he drew the famous Penrose staircase, which spirals round and round without getting either higher or lower. It was out of this youthful playfulness that his profound delight in mathematics developed, and in a way, his youthful outlook has never diminished. In fact, his play with the perennial math game of tiling caused him in due course to postulate the existence of quasi-crystals which have subsequently been discovered to exist.
Penrose is a man who believes that the abstractions of science can be put within reach of the ordinary intelligent reader, and who has devoted a part of his career to this endeavour of communicating at a popular level. His most notable contribution in this respect has been the highly provocative book, The Emperor's New Mind, in which he challenges the high priests of artificial intelligence in their claim that the workings of the human brain can eventually be replicated in a super computer to the point where the computer can have conscious awareness. Penrose presents the hypothesis that brain functions depend to an extent on the laws of physics, including laws which we may not yet have discovered, and they cannot be reduced to easily replicated algorithms. He suggests that the essential links between physics and biology represent one of the great unexplored regions of science.
Penrose of course has his disciples and his detractors. Indeed, new and challenging ideas have always divided the scientific community. But no one can gainsay his truly remarkable career and achievements in several disciplines. A mathematician by training, he has published widely in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and cosmology. While he has been Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at Oxford since 1973, he has also been in constant demand worldwide as a professor, research associate, and lecturer. He has received awards and prizes from many of the world's leading scientific societies. His work with Stephen Hawking in postulating and describing black holes has won him recognition and respect everywhere in the scientific world.
In part, Roger Penrose's interests are the interests of Albert Einstein: general relativity and the impact of general relativity on the structure of quantum theory. In other ways, his thinking is much like that of Erwin Schrödinger, whose 1945 book What is Life? made claims similar to Penrose's about the connection between physics and biology which eventually led to the establishment of the new fields of molecular biology and molecular genetics. What Einstein, Schrödinger, and Penrose all have in common is their belief that Quantum Physics as it is now understood is incomplete. Penrose predicts the need for other laws of physics which he suggests may, among other things, help us better understand the workings of the human mind. Whether he is right or wrong may not be nearly as important as where his challenge leads us, for it has always been the unorthodox, the provocative, and the brilliant leap which have stimulated scientific discovery, often in ways which no one could have predicted.
Dr. Penrose, for us at the University of New Brunswick, an institution dedicated as you are to the search for truth wherever it may lead, your presence here today is both an inspiration and an honour. It is our great privilege to welcome you into our collegial family.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
ROGER PENROSE
to be Doctor of Science
When he was just a boy growing up in England, Roger Penrose discovered that when he had tired of whatever games his neighbourhood playmates suggested, he could resort to a whole new world of fun and games in the world of mathematics. And if he didn't care for the games already known, he could make up his own. With the help of his father, he drew the famous Penrose staircase, which spirals round and round without getting either higher or lower. It was out of this youthful playfulness that his profound delight in mathematics developed, and in a way, his youthful outlook has never diminished. In fact, his play with the perennial math game of tiling caused him in due course to postulate the existence of quasi-crystals which have subsequently been discovered to exist.
Penrose is a man who believes that the abstractions of science can be put within reach of the ordinary intelligent reader, and who has devoted a part of his career to this endeavour of communicating at a popular level. His most notable contribution in this respect has been the highly provocative book, The Emperor's New Mind, in which he challenges the high priests of artificial intelligence in their claim that the workings of the human brain can eventually be replicated in a super computer to the point where the computer can have conscious awareness. Penrose presents the hypothesis that brain functions depend to an extent on the laws of physics, including laws which we may not yet have discovered, and they cannot be reduced to easily replicated algorithms. He suggests that the essential links between physics and biology represent one of the great unexplored regions of science.
Penrose of course has his disciples and his detractors. Indeed, new and challenging ideas have always divided the scientific community. But no one can gainsay his truly remarkable career and achievements in several disciplines. A mathematician by training, he has published widely in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and cosmology. While he has been Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at Oxford since 1973, he has also been in constant demand worldwide as a professor, research associate, and lecturer. He has received awards and prizes from many of the world's leading scientific societies. His work with Stephen Hawking in postulating and describing black holes has won him recognition and respect everywhere in the scientific world.
In part, Roger Penrose's interests are the interests of Albert Einstein: general relativity and the impact of general relativity on the structure of quantum theory. In other ways, his thinking is much like that of Erwin Schrödinger, whose 1945 book What is Life? made claims similar to Penrose's about the connection between physics and biology which eventually led to the establishment of the new fields of molecular biology and molecular genetics. What Einstein, Schrödinger, and Penrose all have in common is their belief that Quantum Physics as it is now understood is incomplete. Penrose predicts the need for other laws of physics which he suggests may, among other things, help us better understand the workings of the human mind. Whether he is right or wrong may not be nearly as important as where his challenge leads us, for it has always been the unorthodox, the provocative, and the brilliant leap which have stimulated scientific discovery, often in ways which no one could have predicted.
Dr. Penrose, for us at the University of New Brunswick, an institution dedicated as you are to the search for truth wherever it may lead, your presence here today is both an inspiration and an honour. It is our great privilege to welcome you into our collegial family.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
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