The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius

In 1937, Roger Penrose and his father discovered a sundial in a clearing behind their house in Colchester. In that machine made of light, shadow and time, six-year-old Roger discovered a ‘world behind the world’ of transcendently beautiful geometry. He had begun a journey that would make him one of the past century’s most influential mathematicians, philosophers and physicists. He received a Nobel Prize, a knighthood and dozens of other prestigious honours. He proved the limitations of general relativity and set a new agenda for theoretical physics. But success came at a price as he struggled to connect with friends, family and especially the women in his life. He has spent his final years alone with his research, intentionally cut off from the people who loved him. Compelling and deeply moving, The Impossible Man intimately depicts the relationship between Penrose the scientist and Roger the human being. It reveals the tragic cost – to himself and those closest to him – for his extraordinary life.

Patchen Barss

Patchen Barss is a Toronto-based science journalist and author. His upcoming biography, The Impossible Man will be published in November 2024. He was the 2021-2022 Sloan Biography Fellow at CUNY’s Graduate Center.

As a writer and editor Barss has contributed to BBC Future, Nautilus Magazine, Scientific American, and The Walrus, as well as the National Post, Toronto Star, and Montreal Gazette. He has been a producer at CBC Television and the Discovery Channel, and is the former Head of Research and Development for the documentary film company CineNova. He spent seven years as the Director of Communications at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.