A high energy nuclear physicist, for 20 years Russell Stannard headed the Physics Department of Britains' largest academic institution, the Open University. He is a Licensed Lay Minister in the Episcopal Church, and has spent a year at the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton. He has carried out research at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, and at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley. Among his numerous awards he has received the Bragg Medal from the UK’s Institute of Physics, the UK Project Trust Award of the John Templeton Foundation, and has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by The Queen, and a Fellow of University College London.

A prolific writer for both adults and children, his 28 published books have been translated into as many as 20 languages and have been shortlisted for religious and scientific book prizes. His most recent book, The End of Discovery, is published by Oxford University Press. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC radio and TV.