About Me

My name is Peter Coles and I’m Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics and Head of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex. My research is in the area of cosmology and the large-scale structure of the Universe.

I was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and educated at its Royal Grammar School. After that I went to Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge to study Natural Sciences, eventually specialising in Theoretical Physics. After graduation I started a doctorate in the Astronomy Centre at the University of Sussex under the supervision of John Barrow, the famous writer. After completing my DPhil in 1988, I stayed for two years in Sussex as a postdoctoral research fellow. My next move was to London, where I held a number of positions in the School of Mathematical Sciences at what is now Queen Mary, University of London. I was awarded an SERC Advanced Fellowship in 1993 which I held for five years and was eventually promoted to the position of Reader. In 1998 I was appointed Professor of Astrophysics in the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Nottingham, a position I took up on 1st January 1999. I helped set up an Astronomy group there, and stayed about eight years in Nottingham until, in 2007, I moved to a position as Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University. I started my current position at Sussex in February 2013.

I’ve published a few books that not many people read, and have been in a few TV programmes that not many people watched. But I’m not bitter…

In case you hadn’t realised “Telescoper” is an anagram of “Peter Coles”, which is quite ironic because as a theorist I don’t know one end of a telescope from the other (especially if it’s of reflecting type). Still, it could have been worse. I might have picked “Tesco Leper”.

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