"[6] Barbour was born on October 5, 1923, in Beijing, China,[7][8] the second of three sons of an American Episcopal mother (who was the daughter of the obstetrician Robert Latou Dickinson) and a Scottish Presbyterian father.
[5] In 1950, he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics from the University of Chicago,[5] where he worked as a teaching assistant to Enrico Fermi.
[5] Barbour taught at Carleton College beginning in 1955[citation needed] with a joint appointment in the departments of physics and philosophy.
[15] Barbour suffered a stroke on December 20, 2013, at his home in Northfield, Minnesota, and remained in a coma at Abbott Northwestern Hospital until his death four days later.
A critical realist perspective sees scientific theories yielding partial, revisable, abstract, but referential knowledge of the world that can be expressed through metaphors and models.
During the 1970s Barbour presented a program of interdisciplinary courses that dealt with ethical issues in the applications of science, exploring the social and environmental consequences of a variety of technologies.
He also has lectured widely on ethical issues in such fields as climate change, technology policy, energy, agriculture, computers, and cloning.
[21] In his acceptance speech for the 1999 Templeton Prize, Barbour spoke about the need to break down barriers, using cloning as an example of science's ability to say what is possible and of religion to reflect on what is desirable.