Brian Cox is the pop star turned pin-up professor whose series on the solar system has sent his career into orbit
Physicists shouldn’t look like Professor Brian Cox. He doesn’t have clouds of wild grey hair, a crumpled lab coat or even ill-fitting beige slacks. Rather, he’s a vision of gleaming skin, artfully floppy hair and extremely good teeth. And he looks about 17.
His CV’s a bit on the racy side, too. You see, he used to be a pop star — touring round Europe in a rock band called Dare. Then he joined D:Ream (yes, the D:Ream who sang Labour’s 1997 election anthem Things Can Only Get Better).
So perhaps it’s little wonder that, despite having a tendency to say things like ‘I love talking about the conservation of angular momentum’ and ‘diffraction is interesting for lots of technical reasons’, he has become something of a sex symbol.
More than just a pretty face: Brian Cox gained a physics degree at Manchester University when he was 23
Or that he is the new, young (he’s actually 42) face of science in Britain today.
His new BBC2 series — the five-part Wonders of the Solar System, on Sunday nights — has been lauded by critics, hailed by DJ Chris Evans as the ‘best programme I’ve ever seen’ and stars Cox marvelling at the beauty of the world around him.
( gleaming skin and floppy hair :P )Would you rather never be allowed to eat chocolate again or have to eat chocolate and nothing else? Never eat it again
Today's trivia: Clouds fly higher during the day than during the night