Zahaan Bharmal

Zahaan Bharmal is an award-winning science writer and communicator. He is the author of The Art of Physics, a new book about the hidden, surprising and beautiful ways in which ideas from physics can make sense of very human problems. The book has been described as ‘exceptionally interesting’ by Alain de Bottom, ‘insightful and entertaining’ by Cal Newport and as something that will ‘transform your understanding of human behaviour’ by Thomas Erikson.

Zahaan studied Physics at the University of Oxford, before beginning his career, initially as a management consultant and then as a speechwriter and policy advisor for the UK Government. He then won a Fulbright Scholarship to Stanford where he earned an MBA. For the last sixteen years he has worked for Google in a range of roles and is currently a Senior Director based in London.

Outside work, Zahaan remains passionate about space and science. He has written about these subjects for The Guardian. He founded YouTube Space Lab - the largest ever international space science competition for which he was personally awarded NASA’s Exceptional Public Achievement Medal. Zahaan is also currently an advisor to Vast, a private company developing humanity’s most capable space stations.

In speeches, Zahaan bridges the gap between science and everyday life, making complex concepts accessible and relatable to both scientific and non-scientific audiences. He applies lessons and ideas from physics to shed light on important questions - how we can be more resilient in the face of setbacks, why we so often make irrational decisions, and why some relationships are able to sustain a lifetime, while others are so unstable.