March 2008

About this talk



"Rock-star physicist" Brian Cox talks about his work on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Discussing the biggest of big science in an engaging, accessible way, Cox brings us along on a tour of the massive project.



Brian Cox: Physicist



Physicist Brian Cox has two jobs: working with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and explaining big science to the general public. He's a professor at the University of Manchester.

Why you should listen to him:



Based at the University of Manchester, Brian Cox works at CERN in Geneva on the ATLAS experiment, studying the forward proton detectors for the Large Hadron Collider there. He's a professor at the University of Manchester, working in the High Energy Physics group, and is a research fellow of the Royal Society.



He's also become a vital voice in the UK media for explaining physics to the public. With his rockstar hair and accessible charm, he's the go-to physicist for explaining heady concepts on British TV and radio. (If you're in the UK, watch him on The Big Bang Machine.) He was the science advisor for the 2007 film Sunshine. He answers science questions every Friday on BBC6 radio's Breakfast Show.



"If people don’t have an understanding of what science is and what scientists do, then they can tend to think that global warming, for example, is just a matter of opinion."

Brian Cox in Seed magazine

1. Stephen Hawking: Asking big questions about the universe
2. Brian Greene: The universe on a string
3. Garrett Lisi: A beautiful new theory of everything
4. Brian Cox: What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider
5. George Smoot: The design of the universe
6. Patricia Burchat: The search for dark energy and dark matter
7. Jill Tarter: Why the search for alien intelligence matters