Professor Brian Cox

Biography

Arguably the UK's best known experimental physicist, Professor Brian Cox's books and TV programmes have been read and watched around the world and credited with making science engaging and accessible to millions. With his down-to-earth, likeable enthusiasm, Brian is frequently labelled a 'rock star scientist', in part due to his time as a professional musician. He is Professor of Particle Physics at Manchester University, a Fellow of The Royal Society, The Crick Scholar at The Francis Crick Institute in London, and was a part of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. He is also the United Nations Champion for Space, a role that sees him promote the peaceful exploration of space including as a means of solving global challenges.

Brian's blockbuster TV shows include Wonders of the Universe, The Planets, Wonders of Life, Solar System, and Forces of Nature, each looking at the fundamental science behind everything from stars and planets to atoms and microbiology. He has also presented Stargazing, Space Hoppers, The Big Bang, and numerous editions of Horizon. His books accompanying the Wonders of... series have become bestsellers, as have his co-authored titles, Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe, Why Does E=mc2? and The Quantum Universe.

From speaking at TED in the US to World Economic Forums in Davos and China, Brian's presentations engage, inform, and entertain. They feature awe-inspiring images from the depths of the universe as well as his trademark infectious enthusiasm for his subject. Alongside the story of life, the universe and everything, Brian argues that science can unite the world in an attempt to discover our shared origins and answer long-held mysteries. He also explains the work of CERN and their attempts to use cutting-edge technology and engineering to recreate events fractions of a nanosecond after the Big Bang "in the hope of revealing the underlying simplicity of the universe.” He considers black holes, and why he believes they are the most interesting objects we know to exist in the universe, and how Mars appears to have had all the conditions we think are necessary to support the origin of life three and a half billion years ago.

Brian is one of the few speakers to tour internationally with a solo lecture show, breaking records for attendances at a live science event. An International Fellow of the Explorers Club, Brian was awarded the prestigious Lord Kelvin Award for his work in promoting science to all. When not filming around the world, he writes for a range of popular and scientific journals, host the podcast A Question of Science, and co-hosts Radio 4's Infinite Monkey Cage, the comedy and science show. He and his friend and co-host Robin Ince examine the big and not-so-big science questions alongside comedians, scientists and celebrities both on air and on tour.