World-renowned physicist Professor Brian Cox, CBE, chatted about his immersive live experience, “Horizons: A 21st Century Space Odyssey,” which is coming to New York City’s iconic Beacon Theatre on April 26.
This tour stop will be a part of his 2022 North American Tour. Professor Cox explores space and time with enthralling visual elements sure to capture the interest of both science novices and experts.
“It’s a great honor,” he said about performing at Beacon Theatre. “It is wonderful to be bringing science to the Beacon Theatre.”
His live show is distinct for many reasons. “The unique aspect of the show is the technology and graphics,” he said. “We’ve developed the show for 15,000 seat arenas in the UK, and so we have been able to really push what is possible at a live show.”
“We have simulations of black holes using the code developed for Interstellar, alien worlds and visions of the future by Swedish graph artist Erik Wernquist and what I can only describe as an 8-minute version of 2001 from the Big Bang to the far future, set to Sibelius’s 5th Symphony (3rd movement) directed by BBC director Nic Stacey. We’ll be using as many LED screens as we can fit in the theatre,” he elaborated.
Professor Cox continued, “The message of the show, after wandering throughout best understanding of the origin and evolution of the Universe, life in the Universe, black holes, and the nature of space and time, is that we humans are remarkable collections of atoms because, somehow, we’ve been able to understand all of this.”
“I think it’s a reasonable assumption that this ability of matter to understand matter hasn’t occurred in many places in a typical galaxy like The Milky Way, and therefore notwithstanding our physical insignificance, we are incredibly valuable. I hope we can all learn to behave as such,” he said.
Motivations
On his daily motivations, he said, “As a physicist, I just want to understand nature a little bit better! My current research interest is black holes because they are proving to be Rosetta Stones that force us to search for a deeper understanding of space and time.”
“As a populariser of science, I believe very strongly that a basic understanding of what science is and how we use it is fundamental to the proper functioning of our democracy. Citizens of democracies need to know how we know the things we know, be that about pandemic control, climate change, or pretty much any of the other challengers of the 21st Century you can name,” he elaborated.
“Science, as the great Richard Feynman once wrote, is a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance,” he said. “It’s a humble pursuit, based on the idea that we do not know everything, by a long shot. That forces us to, as Feynman also wrote, understand that doubt is not to be feared but welcomed.”
“Science, therefore, is more than just a list of facts about our Universe. It’s the way we have as a society of acquiring reliable knowledge, and that is vital for our long-term prosperity and, ultimately, our survival,” he added.
The digital age
On being a physicist in the digital age, Professor Cox said, “The study of black holes is telling us that the Universe itself is digitized, in a way! We’ve found that the information storage capacity of a region of space is significantly lower than we thought.”
“The number of bits you can fit in a region is proportional to the surface area, not the volume, and that is telling us something very deep about the way our Universe works. Information theory is now a part of the theoretical physicists’ toolkit in a way that it wasn’t even a decade ago,” he explained.
Professor Brian Cox, CBE
He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for his services to the promotion of science. “It’s a great honor,” he admitted. “In the UK, I think most people imagine these awards go to people outside of science – most of them do, to be honest! So it’s great to be recognized for science.”
Advice for hopefuls in physics
For young and aspiring physicists, he encouraged them to “stay curious and keep asking questions.”
“Don’t get dispirited if you don’t understand something immediately,” he said. “The best physicists are quite slow to understand sometimes, in my experience, because a deep understanding of something requires effort. If you think you understand something after only a moment’s thought, you’ve probably misled yourself.”
Career-defining moments
When asked about his career-defining moments, he responded, “My Ph.D. viva (exam) without a doubt. Writing a thesis is the first time you discover what it is to know things that nobody else knows and to have to defend those discoveries. That’s real science.”
Success
On his definition of the word success, Professor Cox remarked, “Honestly, it’s understanding more about Nature. I love the feeling of understanding something for the first time. I’m currently writing a book on black holes with a colleague and it has been a very steep learning curve.”
“In the case of the book, success will be if people get to share that feeling of understanding and like the book. At the live shows, you can feel if you’ve explained something well – the audience reacts when they understand something. There is a strange, intangible shift in the atmosphere. That tells me I’ve succeeded,” he said.
To learn more about esteemed physicist Professor Brian Cox, CBE, and his upcoming shows, check out his official website.
