John Gribbin
British science writer
John R. Gribbin (born 19 March 1946) is a British science writer and astrophysicist. His subjects include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change and cosmology. He is a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. Best known for In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, he has also written biographies of Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Buddy Holly. Robert Macfarlane calls him "one of the finest and most prolific writers of popular science around."
Biography
John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. He then earned his Master of Science (MSc) degree in astronomy in 1967, also from the University of Sussex, and he earned his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge (1971).
In 1968, Gribbin worked as one of Fred Hoyle's research students at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, and wrote a number of stories for New Scientist about the institute's research and what were eventually discovered to be pulsars.
In 1974, Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann published The Jupiter Effect, which predicted that the alignment of the planets in a quadrant on one side of the Sun on 10 March 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas Fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs.
Gribbin distanced himself from The Jupiter Effect in the 17 July 1980, issue of New Scientist magazine, stating that he had been "too clever by half".
In February 1982, he and Plagemann published The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered, claiming that the 1980 Mount St.
The public source identifies “John Gribbin” as british science writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Gribbin and British.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q130780. VIAF identifies the subject as 97587096. The Library of Congress control number is n79017970. 5 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1966, 1967 and 1971.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Gribbin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.