D: D: Former keyboard player of REAM.
Physicists should not grow up to be like Professor Brian Edward Cox. He doesn't have messy gray hair, and he doesn't wear wrinkled lab clothes or ill-fitting pants. Professor Cox has delicate skin, supple hair and enviable teeth. As a scientist, he was selected as "the sexiest man of the year 100" by People magazine. As the host of the program, he just wants to tell the audience that science is really interesting.
"We are entering the geek era"
From musician to scientist, is it because science is closely related to music? "No," Cox replied simply, "I've been thinking about it too. Scientists are interested in many things, so they all have many hobbies ... "
He hates people equating scientists with nerds. "The scientific community is ruled by old people. I am trying to break this prejudice, because it is the biggest obstacle that prevents people from loving science.
"In my doctoral program, half of the students are girls. At the European Institute of Particle Physics, there are many energetic young male and female scientists, and being cool does not conflict with being a scientist. "
In fact, many great scientific achievements were made by scientists in their twenties. "Even Einstein, we always thought he was a wise old man with white hair, but in fact all his work to change the world was done when he was young. At that time, he was a handsome guy, drinking and playing pranks. "
He believes that we are entering the "geek era". The comedians Ben Miller, Chris Ardison and Dara O'Briain who are now active on the British screen are all scientists. "I am optimistic that it will be cool to think about something seriously instead of doing some pure entertainment shit."
Cox usually pays attention to what he says and occasionally swears, especially when someone deliberately misinterprets science. What he hates most is creationists, who insist that the universe is only 1000 years old, because the Bible says so, although there is evidence that it is actually 137 billion years old. He also hates "imbeciles" who oppose vaccination. "I just can't understand how people can ignore the efficacy of vaccines!"
Understanding the universe makes us understand the value of life.
Cox is busy now. In addition to BBC TV programs, he also works in the University of Manchester and the European Institute of Particle Physics. He is as busy as a bee, writing papers. His wife Ji Ya Milinovic is also a successful science program host, but she has to help him wash socks at home. His first date with Jiya was September 1 1, "so I will never forget our anniversary."
Compared with fans when they were pop stars, Cox's fans are now "more educated". When they get up in the morning, they are more likely to read the Sunday Times than the News of the World, but they are more enthusiastic.
Despite his multiple roles, Cox's favorite is science, which has never changed. He hopes that through his own programs and lectures, everyone can understand that science is a process of observing the universe and drawing conclusions. As far as the data we have now are concerned, there is no truth or the best theory in science. "Science is the process of replacing the previous model with a better model. Newton's law of gravity has been perfectly practiced to 19 15, and then Einstein put forward a better theory. "
He hopes that people can understand that the vision brought by astronomy is not negative, and it does not mean that you are getting smaller. "Understanding the universe will put us at the center of the universe and tell us that life is so rare and our value is so high."
He likes science only when he is studying. "I refuse to learn French because I can't see what French has to do with my dream of becoming a scientist. Later, I went to work at CERN in Geneva. As a result, I can only stare at the menu in the restaurant. "
Cox compared the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to the Apollo spacecraft of our time. Just as his generation was inspired by Apollo's landing on the moon and devoted to science, he felt that the Large Hadron Collider could enable today's children to engage in scientific research.
"The environment in which the LHC operates is untenable for our understanding of physics. Now the physical heritages of Newton, Faraday and Maxwell are beginning to encounter bottlenecks. We don't know where mass comes from or what dark matter is. There are many theories about these problems, but this machine will solve this problem. "
For Cox, CERN is the most exciting place in the world, if you are a physicist. The contents of physics textbooks in the next twenty years are all related to the research findings here. Eighty-five countries jointly built it, which is probably the only place in the world where Russian, Iranian, China, Pakistani, American and European countries can cooperate. What Cox cares about is that its operating costs are still very low. "As far as Britain is concerned, it is 80 million pounds a year. The British spend more money on peanuts every year than on hadron computers. "
Cox's former band, D:Ream, has released several best-selling singles, and one of them, Only Better and Better, became the election song of 1997 New Labour Party. However, Cox himself is not very interested in politics. "My only political agenda is to get David Cameron to promise that he will make Britain the best place to develop science and engineering. He should do this. Science is the cornerstone of our wealth and civilization. "
Britain's current science and technology budget is 4.6 billion pounds a year. He believes that Britain can lead the world as long as it increases by 654.38 billion-less than 25%. "Because 40% of Britain's GDP is created by knowledge-based industries and services."
He also opposes the British government's plan to increase tuition fees, because university research is the source of future wealth, and what if Einstein in the new era is poor and doesn't want to go to school and is in debt of 40 thousand pounds?
"When I was young, I was fascinated and inspired by carl sagan's science film about planets. Now I want to do the same thing for the next generation. " Cox said.
Let children like science and let people know their place in the universe. "This is the future of our country and civilization. If I can play a small role in it, I will be very happy. "