Brian Cox

A view from Europe on the self-inflicted damage to UK particle, astro and nuclear physics. What a mess this is.

@martinmbauer @CommonsSITC @ChiOnwurah Absolutely! Parliament at its best!

@ProfBrianCox @CommonsSITC It is really remarkable how @CommonsSITC and @ChiOnwurah are defending physics research in the UK, credit where its due!

Excellent ongoing work from @CommonsSITC on the ongoing physics funding crisis in the UK. It’s also worth noting that the crisis is not one of funding for science overall - rather it stems from hasty and ill-informed decision making. One senior person I talked to used the term ‘bull in a china shop’. Not good when we’re talking about one of the foundations of our fragile economy.

@jumpjim Thanks :-) It’s changed a bit since you saw it in Dorking!

If you’re interested in Physics, Science and the Universe in general, make an opportunity to go and see Brian’s new live show. I saw a preview in Dorking which was fabulous and taking the opportunity to see it in Sydney with my FO next month. Highly recommended.

@ShirinSadikot @PJHarveyUK Of course it’s in all shows - it’s an integral part of the show :-)

@ProfBrianCox @PJHarveyUK Only the shows in the next month or so? Does it not feature in the later shows (September in Bucharest, for instance)?

If you’re coming to any of the live shows in Europe over the next month or so, the song ‘Voyager’ that starts act 2 was written for the show by @PJHarveyUK and recorded at Miraval Studios last month. And yes, I play on it :-)

@Vendel63 @PJHarveyUK It is. I used to play a Juno 6 a friend of mine had years ago, moved to a JX8P and then a JX10 (which I still have). Wish I had a Juno though …. I might look for one :-)

@ProfBrianCox @PJHarveyUK "Legend" of Synth :)

@Vendel63 @PJHarveyUK Juno 60

@ProfBrianCox @PJHarveyUK What synths do you play on the track?

PJ Harvey has written and recorded a song called 'Voyager' for @ProfBrianCox's Emergence tour. The song includes an orchestral arrangement by Dario Marianelli, who also composed additional works for the tour.

Nature Astronomy editorial: "With threats to astronomy from all directions, we must consider the true value of astronomy ... that we should be regularly reminding our elected representatives about." nature.com/articles/s4155…

@AstroJake Yes. I think it’s a failure of communication / failure to listen at UKRI. This will be reversed at some point, but it’ll cost a great deal more to fix the damage than to not cause it in the first place - given the very small sums in play as you say.

@ProfBrianCox What is so frustrating is the proposed cuts would be considered a rounding error in other government contracts, but for us it’s vital resources. We are rapidly losing world experts in astrophysics. Labour bang on about wanting 66% of people going to uni, who will teach them?

I agree with everything in this article. The cuts to particle, nuclear and astro physics research in the UK will be devastating, not only to the fields themselves but also to universities more widely and, in the longer term, to industry and therefore the economy as a whole. They were not thought through, there was little or no consultation, and I do not believe they have the support of parliament. The SI&T select committee has been ignored, indeed pretty much everyone who knows anything about the successful but delicate research ecosystem in the UK has been ignored.

@SailinFinland Great questions. 1 - yes - through the plasma before 380,000 years. 2 - estimates vary but maybe redshift 30 or so.

@ProfBrianCox Great lecture (looking into wallet), sorry show 😇 tonight in Helsinki, thanks. A couple of questions: 1) The sound waves you talked about, do you mean waves passed through the material/plasma? 2) Between expansion Z1000 and Z14, where abouts did stars start to form?

Just arrived in Helsinki for the first night of my ‘Emergence’ tour (if you don’t count warm ups). The first of at least 200 shows through ‘26, ‘27 and ‘28 … briancoxlive.co.uk

@haztakki See you tonight !

@ProfBrianCox Tervetuloa Suomeen! I just bought a ticket for today. Looking forward to it.

@Bricktop_NAFO You may be looking at the wrong page. We keep prices as low as possible given the tech in the show - please check you aren’t looking at a re seller page. Should be around 55 Euro.

@ProfBrianCox Hi Brian. I love Science and I have always loved your work. But the ticket prices are absolute bonkers. I will be missing this one thanks.

@gf2070 We will be adding Berlin, yes.

@ProfBrianCox Can you please add Berlin?

@ForrexGump There are still tickets for tomorrow evening - we put in an extra show

@ProfBrianCox If I had known that. Now it sold out. Only option is Tallinn 15. Aprill.

@IrataHack @TheO2 Yes :-)

@ProfBrianCox @TheO2 See you in San Jose

If you couldn’t get tickets for my @TheO2 show in October, we’ve just opened up more seats.

This was a very good question from Ryan - why does the Universe on the largest scales resemble the Universe on the smallest scales? The answer, for the case of the distribution of galaxies on the sky, is that the pattern we see has its origin in quantum mechanical fluctuations during inflation - before the hot big bang (at least according to inflationary cosmology, which is the most widely accepted model at present). Hail Mary is a very good film by the way :-)