Early Life and Education
Polkinghorne was born in Weston-super-Mare to George Polkinghorne, who worked for the post office, and Dorothy Charlton, the daughter of a groom. John was the couple's third child. There was a brother, Peter, and a sister, Ann, who died when she was six, one month before John's birth. Peter died in 1942 while flying for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
He was educated at the local primary school in Street, Somerset, then was taught by a friend of the family at home, and later at a Quaker school. When he was 11 he went to Elmhurst Grammar School in Street, and when his father was promoted to head postmaster in Ely in 1945, Polkinghorne was transferred to The Perse School, Cambridge. Following National Service in the Royal Army Educational Corps from 1948 to 1949, he read Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1952, then earned his PhD in physics in 1955, supervised by Abdus Salam in the group led by Paul Dirac.
Read more about this topic: John Polkinghorne
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