Brian Edward Cox (born 3 March 1968) is an
English physicist who serves as professor
of particle physics in the School of Physics
and Astronomy at the University of Manchester.
He is best known to the public as the presenter
of science programmes, especially the Wonders
of... series and for popular science books,
such as Why Does E=mc²? and The Quantum Universe.
He has been the author or co-author of over
950 scientific publications.Cox has been described
as the natural successor for BBC's scientific
programming by both David Attenborough and
Patrick Moore. Before his academic career,
Cox was a keyboard player for the bands D:Ream
and Dare.
== Early life and education ==
Cox was born on 3 March 1968 in the Royal
Oldham Hospital, later living in nearby Chadderton
from 1971. His parents worked for Yorkshire
Bank, his mother as a cashier and his father
as a middle-manager in the same branch. He
recalls a happy childhood in Oldham that included
pursuits such as dance, gymnastics, plane
spotting and even bus spotting. He attended
the independent Hulme Grammar School in Oldham
from 1979 to 1986. 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. He said on The Jonathan
Ross Show that he performed poorly on his
maths A-level exam: "I got a D ... I was really
not very good ... I found out you need to
practise."
=== 
Music ===
In the 1980s and early 90s, Cox was a keyboard
player with the rock band Dare. Dare released
two albums with Cox – Out of the Silence
in 1988 and Blood from Stone in 1991. 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, although he did not
play on the track.
=== Higher education ===
Cox studied physics at the University of Manchester
during his music career. He earned a Bachelor
of Science degree with first-class honours
and a Master of Philosophy degree in physics.
After D:Ream disbanded in 1997, he completed
his Doctor of Philosophy degree 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 based on research he
did on the H1 experiment at the Hadron Elektron
Ring Anlage (HERA) particle accelerator at
the DESY laboratory in Hamburg, Germany.
== Career ==
=== Research ===
Cox was a PPARC advanced fellow and member
of the high energy physics group at the University
of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment
at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) 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 Compact Muon
Solenoid (CMS) experiment by installing additional,
smaller detectors at a distance of 420 metres
from the interaction points of the main experiments.Cox
has co-authored several books on physics including
Why does E=mc2? and The Quantum Universe,
both with Jeff Forshaw. He has supervised
or co-supervised several PhD students to completion
including Tamsin Edwards and several others.
=== Broadcasting ===
Cox has appeared in many science programmes
for BBC radio and television, including In
Einstein's Shadow, the BBC Horizon series,
("The Six Billion Dollar Experiment", "What
on Earth is Wrong with Gravity?", "Do You
Know What Time It Is?", and "Can we Make a
Star on Earth?") and as a voice-over for the
BBC's Bitesize revision programmes. He 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. Wonders of Life,
which he describes as "a physicist's take
on life/natural history", was broadcast in
2013.He co-presents Space Hoppers and has
also featured in Dani's House on CBBC.Cox
also presented a three-part BBC series called
Science Britannica which sees him explore
the contribution of British scientists over
the last 350 years, as well as the relationship
between British science and the public perception
thereof.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 Alice Roberts of the BBC show The
Incredible Human Journey, and astrophysicist
Neil deGrasse Tyson. Cox also appeared in
Ince's Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless
People. He is a regular contributor to the
BBC 6 Music Breakfast Show with Shaun Keaveny,
with a weekly feature. He appeared on 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,
a talk entitled "Frankenstein's Science" at
the National Theatre 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 19th 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, he gave the Ninth Douglas
Adams Memorial Lecture.
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 (and inaccuracies) 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. The BBC subsequently broadcast
Human Universe and Forces of Nature also presented
by Cox.
In 2017, Cox appeared in the children's television
programme Postman Pat, voicing space expert
Professor Ryan Farrow.
=== Filmography ===
=== Discography ===
Session discographyDare – Out of the Silence
(1988)
Dare – Blood from Stone (1991)
D:Ream – D:Ream on Volume 1 (1993)
D:Ream – In Memory Of... (2011)
=== Bibliography ===
Why Does E=mc²? (And Why Should We Care?)
with Jeff Forshaw (2009)
Wonders of the Solar System (with Andrew Cohen)
(2010)
Wonders of the Universe (with Andrew Cohen)
(2011)
The Quantum Universe (And Why Anything That
Can Happen, Does) with Jeff Forshaw (2011)
Wonders of Life: Exploring the Most Extraordinary
Phenomenon in the Universe (with Andrew Cohen)
(2013)
Human Universe (with Andrew Cohen) (2014)
Forces of Nature (with Andrew Cohen) (2016)
Universal: A Guide to the Cosmos with Jeff
Forshaw (2016)
=== Awards and honours ===
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 he received the British Association's
Lord Kelvin Award for this work. He held a
prestigious Royal Society University Research
Fellowship (an early-career Research Fellowship
scheme) from 2006 to 2013. 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. He was appointed Officer of
the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the
Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours for services
to science. On 15 March 2011, he won Best
Presenter and Best Science/Natural History
programme by the Royal Television Society
for Wonders of the Universe. On 25 March 2011,
he 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." He was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.
== Political views ==
Cox has voiced his concerns about Brexit saying
he feels it is a "weakening of our interaction
with our neighbouring countries" and that
"it cannot be the right trajectory." On 23
June 2018, the People's Vote march was held
in London to mark the second anniversary of
the referendum to leave the European Union.
Cox tweeted that, "if [a people's vote were]
held on known exit terms and leave commanded
majority, I'd back it as settled, informed
decision. That's my argument for having one."
== 
Personal life ==
In 2003, Cox married U.S. science presenter
Gia Milinovich in Duluth, Minnesota. They
have a son born in 2009, and Milinovich has
a son from a previous relationship. The family
currently lives in Battersea. Cox rejects
the label atheist but has stated he has "no
personal faith." In 2009, he contributed to
the charity book The Atheist's Guide to Christmas.
He is a humanist, and is a Distinguished Supporter
of Humanists UK. He is an Oldham Athletic
fan and held a season ticket at the club
