About Author

Birth Date : 05/11/1945

BIOGRAPHER RICHARD HOLMES WAS BORN IN LONDON, ENGLAND ON 5 NOVEMBER 1945 AND EDUCATED AT DOWNSIDE SCHOOL AND CHURCHILL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. HIS FIRST BOOK, SHELLEY: THE PURSUIT, WAS PUBLISHED IN 1974 AND WON A SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD. HIS LATEST BOOKS ARE: THE AGE OF WONDER (2008), AN EXAMINATION OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE SCIENTISTS OF THE ROMANTIC AGE WHO LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN SCIENCE AND FALLING UPWARDS: HOW WE TOOK TO THE AIR (2013). THE AGE OF WONDER WAS SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2009 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE. HE IS A FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE, A FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY AND WAS AWARDED AN OBE IN 1992. HE WAS AWARDED AN HONORARY LITT.D. IN 2000 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA, WHERE HE WAS APPOINTED PROFESSOR OF BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES IN SEPTEMBER 2001.