Brian Cox: Why we need the explorers

December 09, 2011

"... curiosity-driven science pays for itself, powering innovation and a profound appreciation of our existence." ~ TED.com

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. [In the US Cox's Wonders of the Solar System can be viewed on the Science Channel.) 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

TED.com video, view time 16.29 minutes.