Jeremy England is an American physicist who uses statistical physics arguments to explain the spontaneous emergence of life, and consequently, the modern synthesis of evolution.[3][4][5] England terms this process dissipation-driven adaptation.[6]
Jeremy England | |
---|---|
Born | 1982 |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Dissipation-driven adaptation hypothesis of abiogenesis |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biophysics |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology GlaxoSmithKline Bar-Ilan University |
Thesis | Theory and Simulation of Explicit Solvent Effects on Protein Folding in Vitro and in Vivo (2009) |
Doctoral advisor | Vijay S. Pande[1] |
Website | www |
England was born in Boston, Massachusetts[7] and raised in a college town in New Hampshire.[8] His mother was the daughter of Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors, while his father was a non-observant Lutheran. He was raised Jewish but did not seriously study Judaism and the Torah until he attended graduate school at Oxford University.[8] He now considers himself an Orthodox Jew[8] who has been inspired by Zionist ideology.[9] He has previously written on The Stanford Review contesting Palestinians' right to the land occupied by Israel since 1948, wishing them "well in finding homes outside the Land of Israel".[10]
England earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Harvard in 2003. After being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship,[11] he studied at St. John's College, Oxford, from 2003 until 2005. He earned his Ph.D. in physics at Stanford in 2009 under Vijay S. Pande,[12][2] where he was supported by a Hertz Fellowship.[13] In 2011, he joined MIT as an assistant professor of physics;[7] subsequently, he was associate professor of physics from 2017 until 2019.[12][14] In 2019, he left MIT to join GlaxoSmithKline as a senior director in artificial intelligence and machine learning;[15] he was promoted to vice president in 2023.[12][14] He was a principal research scientist at Georgia Tech from 2020 until 2023, when he joined Bar-Ilan University as a visiting professor of physics.[14]
England has developed a hypothesis of the physics of the origins of life, based on a mechanism which he calls dissipation-driven adaptation.[3][5][6] The hypothesis holds that random groups of molecules can self-organize to more reliably absorb and dissipate heat from the environment, and that such self-organizing systems are an inherent part of the physical world.[8]
Pulitzer Prize–winning science historian Edward J. Larson said that if England can demonstrate his hypothesis to be true, "he could be the next Darwin."[8]
A fictionalized version of England and his theory are featured in the novel Origin by Dan Brown. England, who is an Orthodox Jew and ordained rabbi,[16] has written that he strongly rejects Brown's depiction of him as being a scientist who is unconcerned with spiritual matters.[17]
England was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and Hertz fellow in 2003.[11][13] In 2012, he was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 for his scientific achievements.[13][18] In 2021, he was given the Irwin Oppenheim Award by the American Physical Society alongside Sumantra Sarkar.[19]
^ Forbes.com seems to have lost most of the content on his profile and lists a broken link to the 2012 30-under-30 in Science. The Hertz Foundation profile mentions the 2018 Forbes 30-under-30. However, neither the 2012 nor the 2018 official listing pages on Forbes.com list England.