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  • Brian Edward Cox OBE is an English physicist and former musician, Professor, a Royal Society

  • University Research Fellow, PPARC Advanced Fellow at the University of Manchester. He

  • is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works

  • on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland.

  • He is working on the research and development project of the FP420 experiment in an international

  • collaboration to upgrade the ATLAS and the CMS experiment by installing additional, smaller

  • detectors at a distance of 420 metres from the interaction points of the main experiments.

  • Cox is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the

  • BBC, boosting the popularity of subjects such as astronomy and physics. He has been described

  • as the natural successor for BBC's scientific programming by both David Attenborough and

  • the late Patrick Moore. He also had some fame in the 1990s as the keyboard player for the

  • pop band D:Ream.

  • Early life and education Cox's parents were bankers and he attended

  • the independent Hulme Grammar School in Oldham from 1979 to 1986. Cox revealed on The Jonathan

  • Ross Show that he performed poorly on his Maths A-level: "I got a D ... I was really

  • not very good ... I found out you need to practise." He cites a lack of interest and

  • fledgling band commitments as the reason for the result.

  • Cox obtained first-class BSc and MPhil degrees in Physics. After D:Ream disbanded in 1997,

  • Cox completed his Doctor of Philosophy in high-energy particle physics at the University

  • of Manchester. His thesis, "Double Diffraction Dissociation at Large Momentum Transfer",

  • was supervised by Robin Marshall and drawn from work he did for the H1 experiment at

  • the HERA particle accelerator at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg, Germany.

  • Music career In the 1980s he was keyboard player with the

  • rock band Dare. He studied physics at the University of Manchester, where he joined

  • D:Ream, a group that had several hits in the UK charts, including the number one, "Things

  • Can Only Get Better", later used as a New Labour election anthem.

  • Broadcasting career

  • Cox has appeared in many science programmes for BBC radio and television, including In

  • Einstein's Shadow, the BBC Horizon series, and as a voice-over for the BBC's Bitesize

  • revision programmes. Cox presented the five-part BBC Two television series Wonders of the Solar

  • System in early 2010 and a follow up four-part series, Wonders of the Universe, which began

  • on 6 March 2011. A new series, Wonders of Life, completed filming in June 2012, which

  • Cox describes as "a physicist's take on life / natural history".

  • He co-presents Space Hoppers and has also featured in Dani's House on CBBC.

  • BBC Two commissioned Cox to copresent Stargazing Live, a three-day live astronomy series in

  • January 2011 – co-presented with physicist-turned-comedian Dara Ó Briain and featuring chat show host

  • Jonathan Ross – linked to events across the United Kingdom. A second and a third series

  • featuring a variety of guests ran in January 2012 and January 2013.

  • Since November 2009 Cox has co-presented a BBC Radio 4 "comedy science magazine programme",

  • The Infinite Monkey Cage with comedian Robin Ince. Guests have included comedians Tim Minchin,

  • Alexei Sayle, Dara Ó Briain, and scientists including Dr Alice Roberts of the BBC show

  • The Incredible Human Journey. Cox also appeared in Ince's Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless

  • People. Cox is a regular contributor to the BBC 6 Music Breakfast Show with Shaun Keaveny,

  • with a weekly feature. Cox appeared on the 24 July 2009 episode of Robert Llewellyn's

  • CarPool podcast series. Cox has also appeared numerous times at TED,

  • giving talks on the LHC and particle physics. In 2009 he appeared in People magazine's Sexiest

  • Men Alive. In 2010 he was featured in The Case for Mars by Symphony of Science. In November

  • 2010 he made a promotional appearance in the Covent Garden Apple Store, talking about his

  • new e-book set to accompany his new television series as well as answering audience questions.

  • Cox gave the Royal Television Society's 2010 Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture on "Science,

  • a Challenge to TV Orthodoxy", in which he examined problems in media coverage of science

  • and news about science. It was subsequently broadcast on BBC Two. On 4 March, Frankenstein's

  • Science featured Cox in discussion with biographer Richard Holmes on Mary Shelley's exploration

  • of humanity's desire to bring life to an inanimate object and whether the notion is possible,

  • in both the nineteenth century and today. On 6 March 2011, Cox appeared as a guest at

  • Patrick Moore's 700th episode anniversary of The Sky At Night. He has said that he is

  • a lifelong fan of the programme, and that it helped inspire him to become a physicist.

  • On 10 March 2011, Cox gave the Ninth Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture.

  • Cox has co-authored several books on physics including Why does E=mc2? with Jeff Forshaw,

  • and The Quantum Universe, also with Jeff Forshaw. Cox was the science advisor for the science

  • fiction film Sunshine. On the DVD release, he provides an audio commentary where he discusses

  • scientific accuracies depicted in the film. He also was featured on the Discovery Channel

  • special Megaworld: Switzerland. In 2013, he presented another series of "Wonders of Life".

  • On 14 November 2013, BBC Two broadcast The Science of Doctor Who in celebration of Doctor

  • Who's 50th anniversary, in which Cox tackles the mysteries of time travel. The lecture

  • was recorded at the Royal Institution Faraday Lecture Theatre. In November 2013, the BBC

  • announced that Cox will present Human Universe on BBC Two.

  • Honours and awards Cox has received many awards for his efforts

  • to publicise science. In 2002 he was elected an International Fellow of The Explorers Club

  • and in 2006 Cox received the British Association's Lord Kelvin Award for this work.

  • Also in 2006 he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. A frequent

  • lecturer, he was keynote speaker at the Australian Science Festival in 2006, and in 2010 won

  • the Institute of Physics Kelvin Prize for his work in communicating the appeal and excitement

  • of physics to the general public. Cox was appointed Officer of the Order of the British

  • Empire in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours for services to science.

  • On 15 March 2011, Cox won Best Presenter and Best Science / Natural History programme by

  • the Royal Television Society for Wonders of the Universe. On 25 March 2011, Cox won twice

  • at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for 'Best Performer' in a non-acting role, while

  • Wonders of the Solar System was named best documentary series of 2010.

  • In July 2012, Cox was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield.

  • Later that year, he was awarded the Institute of Physics President's medal by Sir Patrick

  • Stewart, following which he gave a speech on the value of education in science and the

  • need to invest more in future generations of scientists. On 5 October 2012 Cox was awarded

  • an honorary doctorate by the Open University for his "Exceptional contribution to Education

  • and Culture".In 2012 he also was awarded the Michael Faraday Prize of the Royal Society

  • "for his excellent work in science communication" Personal life

  • In 2003 Cox married U.S. science presenter Gia Milinovich. Their first son, George, was

  • born on 26 May 2009. George's middle name is "Eagle" after the Apollo 11 lunar module.

  • Milinovich also has a son, named Moki, from a previous relationship. The family currently

  • lives in Battersea. He recalls a happy childhood in Oldham that

  • included pursuits such as dance, gymnastics, plane spotting, and even bus spotting. He

  • has stated in many interviews and in an episode of Wonders of the Universe that when he was

  • 12, the book Cosmos by Carl Sagan was a key factor in inspiring him to become a physicist.

  • Brian Cox is a humanist, and is a "Distinguished Supporter" of the British Humanist Association.

  • He is a lifelong Oldham Athletic A.F.C. fan, and held a season ticket at the club.

  • Television Discography

  • Session discography DareOut of the Silence

  • DareBlood from Stone D:Ream – D:Ream On Volume 1

  • D:ReamIn Memory Of... References

  • External links Prof Brian Cox on BBC

  • Prof Brian Cox on Eden Brian Cox interview at sci-fi-online.com

  • List of papers by Brian Cox An interview with Brian Cox

  • Prof Brian Cox, Former Rock Star

Brian Edward Cox OBE is an English physicist and former musician, Professor, a Royal Society

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