Summary: A Born-Again Brain?– this house believes that modern science has demonstrated the implausibility of an afterlife. Speakers for the motion are Professor Lewis Wolpert and Professor Peter Atkins. Lewis Wolpert is professor of biology at University College London and is recognised as one of the pioneering thinkers of embryology. He is a former chairman of the Committee for the Public Understanding of Science and has presented science in books, on radio and on TV. He also writes a column for The Independent. Peter Atkins is professor of physical chemistry at Lincoln College, Oxford, and is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society. His research interests are in the field of theoretical chemistry, particularly magnetic resonance and the electromagnetic properties of molecules. He is the author of several world-famous chemistry textbooks and now spends virtually all his time writing, including books for more general audiences. Speakers against the motion are the Rev Dr John Polkinghorne and Dr Sean Spence. John Polkinghorne is a mathematical physicist and Anglican priest. He resigned as professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge in 1979 to pursue theological studies, becoming a priest in 1982. Since then, his writings and lectures have applied scientific habits to Christianity, resulting in a ‘modern, new exploration of the faith.’ Sean Spence is reader in adult psychiatry at the University of Sheffield and honorary consultant psychiatrist to the homeless at Sheffield Care Trust. His research interests include the investigation of the cognitive neurobiology of higher executive function in humans in health and disease. The debate will be chaired by the IoP’s Professor Robin Murray.
