Stephen was not the only Cambridge scientist to be honoured that year, nor yet the only physicist from the Department. John Polkinghorne, the Professor of Particle Physics, was also being admitted to the Fellowship of the Royal Society on the same occasion. Having reached the apogee of his career in science, he was on the point of giving up physics to take up theology; that is to say, from being Professor Polkinghorne FRS, he was about to become an undergraduate again, embarking on the long haul of study for ordination, curacy and parish, with the particular motivation of healing the schism between science and religion which had originated with Galileo. In his opinion, science and religion were not in opposition but were two complementary aspects of one reality. This thesis would become the theme of his writings as a priest-scientist. Although we did not know him well, I admired his conviction and was greatly encouraged to find that atheism was not an essential prerequisite of science, and not all scientists were as atheistic as they seemed.
— Travelling to Infinity (Jane Hawking), Loc. 3154–61