He is a leading academic in the field of quantum optics and is the recipient of several major awards including the Royal Medal from the Royal Society and the Thomas Young Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics. He is a former president of the Institute of Physics and the Optical Society of America, the first non North American-based person to take the position. He is described as "one of the UK’s most influential scientists and leaders of scientific policy" by his peers. Academic career

Knight's work is concerned principally with theoretical quantum optics, strong field physics and especially quantum information science. He was educated at Bedford Modern School. When Knight began his University education he attended Sussex University to read chemistry, but soon realised physics interested him more. He received his first degree and D.Phil. from Sussex University and became research associate at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Rochester and at the Physics Department and SLAC, Stanford University (US). He spent three years doing post-doctoral research in the US in the group of Joseph Eberly which gave him experience of working with "incredibly gifted people". He was then SRC research fellow at Sussex University, and later visiting scientist at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, US.
They are a leading academic in the field of quantum optics and the recipient of several major awards including the Royal Medal from the Royal Society and the Thomas Young Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics. They are a former president of the Institute of Physics and the Optical Society of America, the first non-North American-based person to take the position. They are described as "one of the UK’ s most influential scientists and leaders of scientific policy" by their peers. Academic career
 Knight's work is concerned principally with theoretical quantum optics, strong field physics and especially quantum information science. They were educated at Bedford Modern School. When Knight began their university education, they attended Sussex University to read chemistry, but soon realized physics interested them more. They received their first degree and D.Phil. from Sussex University and became research associate at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Rochester and at the Physics Department and SLAC, Stanford University (US). They spent three years doing post-doctoral research in the US in the group of Joseph Eberly which gave them experience of working with "incredibly gifted people". They were then SRC research fellow at Sussex University, and later visiting scientist at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, US.