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Professor Brian Cox OBE to give Keynote address

Not quite yet a teenager, Brian Cox watched the landmark television series Cosmos, and decided there and then to become a physicist and find out how the universe works. Along the way he was diverted by music for a while, but he is now a professor of particle physics – and a keynote speaker at IBC2014.

Sunday at the IBC Conference is devoted to looking to the future. Who better to set the tone of the day than Professor Brian Cox OBE, who combines his academic work with presenting his own compulsive, imaginative television series.

“I am very much looking forward to speaking at IBC2014,” Cox said. “Television programmes like Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and James Burke’s Connections had a great influence on me when I was younger, and it is my view that television is still the most powerful and direct way of inspiring new generations of viewers.

“Integrating television with social media and the internet enhances that potential,” he added, “but of course power comes with responsibility: we must take our responsibility to educate, inform and influence seriously.”

Cox – who at one time put his academic career on hold while he played keyboards with chart band D-Ream – is now Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester in the UK. He combines that with work at CERN, the joint European project in Geneva, which aims to solve the really big questions in particle physics.

When not working on the Large Hadron Collider, Cox uses his charismatic communication skills to present television programmes on science and the heavens. His skill is in making even the most complex concepts clear for all audiences. He is as popular on children’s television as on science documentaries, and has a long-running radio comedy programme, The Infinite Monkey Cage.

Cox brings this engaging style to IBC on Sunday morning. He will consider how developments in technology have allowed his own story-telling style to evolve. The keynote will also consider the impact of the massive expansion in television over the years since he was first captivated by Cosmos, back in the days when the UK only had three television channels.

It is likely he will also muse on the physics of television itself. Will we one day be shown around the night skies by Brian Cox in a three dimensional hologram?

Hear all this and much more in a keynote address that is surely not to be missed. Things can only get better at 10.00 on Sunday 14 September 2014 in the Forum. Visit www.ibc.org/register to book your IBC Conference pass now.