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]

Early life

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]

Theoretical work

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]

In popular culture

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]

Awards

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]