Ray Monk (1957) studied philosophy at the universities of York and Oxford, and doctored himself with a thesis on Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics, his main field of interest together with the history of analytical philosophy and the philosophical aspects of Biographical writing His first book, Ludwig Wittgenstein, received two prestigious awards for biographical works: the John Lewellyn Rhys Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize. Later published other biographies, of the philosopher Bertrand Russell and the physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Since 1992 he has been teaching philosophy at the University of Southampton.