Ex-plain...

Three weeks ago my mother and I went to watch Brian Cox’s new global tour, Emergence, in Singapore. We only knew of it a day before the actual event. But quite conveniently, it was right downstairs from our apartment, so we decided to go anyway. I have been watching his talks online for a while now, so I wasn’t going to miss the chance to see him live. 

It’s safe to say that it did not disappoint. 

And like any other Brian Cox performance, I was completely astounded by everything to do with it. The state-of-the-art graphics projected on Star Theater’s state-of-the-art LED screen, the sound effects accompanying our journey through the cosmos, and of course, the truly jaw-dropping science behind it. But what stunned me the most was not any of that. What will stick with me even years after that night, is the pure simplicity in which Professor Cox delivered his message. He was able to take things out of his research and the research of other fellow physicists in the industry, put them into simple words, and deliver them to audiences of 5,000 people interactively and engagingly, without losing the depth of that message. There may be hundreds and thousands of physicists who have published more papers than him, received more awards and accolades than him, and shifted the paradigm of the scientific world in ways he coulxd only dream about. But there is close to no one, that can bring science to the rest of the world like he does. 

Science is rightfully about the communication as much as it is about the actual research behind it. As inspired by one of Professor Cox’s heroes, Carl Sagan, "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." But if we don't tell the world about it, it's as if it never happened.

So here’s the start to this series: “Ex-plain…”