Roger Penrose (1931– ). A Nobel Prize for black-hole singularities, a set of tiles that startled mathematics, and a lifelong insistence that the universe repeats forever and that consciousness is quantum.
This is an unofficial fan site that follows his latest work through papers and books.
Last updated 2026-09-20
Three lines you can skip.
Only the essentials. For more, the books and Wikipedia.
His father Lionel was a geneticist in the well-known Penrose family. He studied mathematics at University College London and Cambridge.
Proved that under general relativity a collapsing star cannot avoid forming a singularity. This became the foundation of later black-hole research.
Two tile shapes that cover the plane without ever repeating a pattern. They later turned out to anticipate the mathematics of quasicrystals (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2011).
The big book arguing that consciousness cannot arise from computation. Its argument, starting from Gödel's incompleteness theorem, is still a reference point in AI debates.
Half the prize, "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity." He was 89.
Newest first. Links go to the originals on arXiv and elsewhere.
Born 8 August 1931. Research and public talks continue.
A paper challenging both the mathematical framework of CCC and its observational claims, especially the Hawking points. Read it against the defenders' papers rather than on its own. The open question in this field is whether observation can settle it.
Work such as Wiest's "A quantum microtubule substrate of consciousness" is collecting citations for treating neuronal microtubules as a substrate for quantum processes. Not a new book by Penrose himself, but a sign that the theory is starting to stand on its own.
arXiv:2503.24263. A capstone that lays out the mathematical machinery, motivation and observational prospects of CCC. It introduces a gravitational-wave-dominated era near the crossover between aeons, widening the range of testable predictions. His biggest piece of work in years.
Understanding Penrose means following these three arguments.
Conformal cyclic cosmology says the far end of cosmic expansion joins seamlessly onto the time before the Big Bang. In a remote future where all mass has vanished, clocks stop; drop the scale, and that future is indistinguishable from the start of the next universe.
The claim that evaporating black holes from the previous aeon leave ring-shaped "Hawking points" in the cosmic microwave background is statistically contested. Reading the 2025 capstone paper and then the 2026 critique is the shortest route into the current state of play.
Why does anesthesia switch consciousness off? Penrose and Hameroff argue that the objective collapse of quantum superpositions inside the brain's microtubules is itself consciousness (Orchestrated Objective Reduction).
The mainstream physiological objection is that quantum coherence cannot survive in a warm brain. Meanwhile papers examining quantum models of microtubules keep appearing. Nothing is settled.
The argument, built on Gödel's incompleteness theorem, that human understanding exceeds any algorithm. Citations have increased rather than faded in the AI era, but objections to the Lucas–Penrose argument remain strong. Don't call yourself a Penrose fan until you've read this one.
Famously difficult; even if they defeat you, you come away with a lot.
The Emperor's New Mind
Roger Penrose, 1989
Computation, quantum physics and consciousness in one sweep. The entry point and the hard climb. Start here.
Shadows of the Mind
Roger Penrose, 1994
The sequel that answers every criticism of The Emperor's New Mind. For following the controversy.
Cycles of Time
Roger Penrose, 2010
CCC explained for general readers. Everything you need before the recent papers.
Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe
Roger Penrose, 2016
His late-career method: pruning modern physics with three words, fashion, faith and fantasy.
Titles only; no affiliate links on the English page.
This page is an unofficial fan site about Roger Penrose. It has no connection to him, his institutions or his publishers.
Summaries are based on public papers (arXiv and others) and press coverage, but they are the writer's understanding. Check the linked originals for the precise content.