Dr. Brian Cox on Horizon
Brian was on BBC Breakfast this morning to talk about his Horizon (tonight BBC2 9pm) ‘What On Earth Is Wrong With Gravity?“. Click the image to watch the video.
It’s been getting lots of good reviews. The only criticisms are about the ’style’ of the programme- it’s beautifully shot and edited. I suspect the criticisms come because the reviewers can’t see science as part of popular culture. It’s perfectly acceptable to have ’stylish’ programmes about music, films, books, etc… but science?! Well, why not?
The Guardian
In an effort to explain the essentially inexplicable nature of gravity, Dr Brian Cox heads to America, where the boffins are bountiful and the astrophysical anomalies are served with fries. It’s a game attempt to de-ice several brain- freezing concepts (Einstein’s theory of relativity, Newton’s doofer, something about “gravity waves”), though efforts to further invigorate the venture via scenes of crew-based japery merely remind us why boom operators should never be allowed in front of the camera.
The Telegraph
The BBC’s flagship science series continues as dishy particle physicist (and how often can one say that?) Dr Brian Cox asks: just what is gravity? Newton predicted its effects and Einstein thought he knew how it worked but Cox thinks there’s more to gravity than even these two giants worked out. Despite some annoyingly modern editing (the programme jumps around all over the place), the arguments are reassuringly intelligent, yet still accessible to novices. AG
You can watch outtakes and clips from the programme, as well as read more about it on the BBC’s ‘Horizon’ site.
A very special thanks to Hugh for Twittering about Brian’s programme.
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13 Comments, Comment or Ping
Nick
Admit it, you were just dying for a chance to use “dishy particle physicist” in a post. Bragger!
Program looks good, though living in the US without a tv severely limits the likelihood that I’ll every see it.
Jan 29th, 2008
Nick
He paraphrases Star Wars, and apparently visits Chicago (my home) in the summer time (very wise, winter in Chicago is not to be tempted). Did he enjoy his trip into Chicago? I recognized the picture outside of Fermi because when I was a high school student they would have Saturday morning physics lectures for area high school students. Of course now that I’ve written that I can’t help but wonder what happened to that bright version of myself?
Also, are those morning hosts always like that? If I were in Brian’s place, I’d be tempted to take that pencil and just whip it him!
Jan 29th, 2008
giagia
Nick, I’m gald you caught the Star Wars reference. He and the director are big fans and so they had to work that in! Ha!
Jan 29th, 2008
Ciaran
Was it just me, or was the male presenter being a bit arsey about it? He seemed to launch into an offensive, and then the rest of the interview was spent with his co-presenter defending Brian.
Anyway, Sky+ set, will tell the troops :)
Jan 29th, 2008
hannah
That clip’s brilliant - both the presenters don’t seem to be even *attempting* to understand what Brian’s saying…
Another classic BBC Breakfast interview is on Youtube - with the Mighty Boosh. Noel and Julian look a leeedle bit worse for wear, and the presenters have obviously never seen the show. Much awkwardness and bluffing ensues…
I digress. Looking forward to watching tonight! :)
Jan 29th, 2008
giagia
Ciaran, I think he was trying to be funny. :-/
Hannah, yay! Thanks for watching. And YAY for The Boosh (oh, how I love them…)
Jan 29th, 2008
Mark
I love the traffic spikes when your hubby’s on TV.
Most amusing referral I got last night was from someone asking “dr brian cox bbc why does he look so young”. So … what is his secret? Is it something to do with bosons? Yeah, that’s it, I bet it’s bosons.
Jan 30th, 2008
giagia
Haha! I had quite a lot of referrals from you last night. Brian and I crack up every time we see a referral from you. I can’t imagine what must be going through people’s heads when they read your ‘interview’ with him! Pffffft!
Jan 30th, 2008
Rachel Greenham
Does that make Gia the boson’s mate?
(I’ll get my coat…)
Jan 30th, 2008
Creepy
It was good. Personally I quite liked the japery of the crew etc so what does the Guardian know, pah! Almost made me run off and read my idiots quides to the universe/Hawking again but those don’t put it as well as Mr Cox did. Interesting to see that the Buddhists are right and everything is connected and affects everything else though, even if they didn’t know the scientific terms or reasons behind it all. And I spotted the Star Wars bit and thought ‘they did that bit rather deadpan - was it not supposed to be homage?’
Jan 30th, 2008
toby
Grrr! Buddhism is no more right than any other religion. They accept easy answers too, instead of doing the hard work of searching for reasons.
Jan 30th, 2008
Creepy
Well actually I meant it more in the way that it’s fascinating to know that people were quite close to the theory all those years ago, without really understanding how it worked. Not that ‘oh religion is right’ or anything. Just that so many ideas cut very close to a revelation and yet never quite strike it and it takes so long to prove an idea right or wrong or on the right track etc. Just interesting to put such old philosophies next to what we know now, all these years later and see how maybe someone knew something but didn’t have the words or knowledge to explain it any better. I always find those programmes on TV interesting about how a tale in the bible may have happened but it wasn’t god, it was science that they didn’t understand and so attributed it to a god.
Jan 31st, 2008
giagia
At least Buddhism and Hinduism were at least on the right track when it came to things like ‘the age of the world’- they believed it was billions of years old, not 5-10,000 like them there Bible-based ones. Where Hinduism fell down, however, was the whole ‘the Earth sits on a turtle, which sits on a turtle, which sits on a turtle…’ thing.
Jan 31st, 2008
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