Michael White (author)

Michael White (16 February 1959 – 6 February 2018 ) was a British writer who was based in Perth, Australia. He studied at King's College London (1977–1982) and was a chemistry lecturer at d'Overbroeck's College, Oxford (1984–1991).

He was a science editor of British GQ, a columnist for the Sunday Express in London and, 'in a previous incarnation', he was a member of Colour Me Pop (band). Colour Me Pop featured on the "Europe in the Year Zero" EP in 1982 with Yazoo and Sudeten Creche and he was then a member of the group The Thompson Twins (1982). He moved to Australia in 2002 and was made an Honorary Research Fellow at Curtin University in 2005.

He was the author of thirty-five books: these include Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science; Leonardo: The First Scientist; Tolkien: A Biography; and C. S. Lewis: The Boy Who Chronicled Narnia. His first novel Equinox – thriller, an occult mystery reached the Top Ten in the bestseller list in the UK and has been translated into 35 languages. His non-fiction production included the biography Galileo: Antichrist Novels following Equinox include The Medici Secret, The Borgia Ring and The Art of Murder.

White wrote under two further names, Tom West and Sam Fisher. He used the latter pseudonym to publish the E-Force trilogy, State of Emergency, Aftershock, and Nano. A further novel by White, The Venetian Detective, features characters including Galileo and Elizabeth.

White wrote a biography of Isaac Newton, The Last Sorcerer. He was both short-listed and long-listed for the Aventis prize. Rivals was short-listed in 2002, and The Fruits of War long-listed in 2006. He was also nominated for the Ned Kelly Prize for First Novel (for Equinox in 2007).