00:00Well, I work at the University of Manchester and also funded by the Royal Society.
00:04So I work at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva,
00:07which is the biggest scientific experiment ever attempted,
00:10working beautifully at the moment now,
00:12delivering, well, I suppose, data about the universe
00:15as it was a billionth a second after the universe began, after the Big Bang.
00:18So it's a real pioneering experiment that's been 20 years in the making
00:24and it's started delivering data this year.
00:25Okay.
00:26She is. She asks specifically about it.
00:29And actually, I'd met her once before at a Royal Society event at the Palace last year.
00:34So she's a fan of science, definitely.
00:36And she knew, she asked me specifically about the Large Hadron Collider,
00:40so she's following it, wanted to know how it was going.
00:42It's wonderful. I mean, I should say I was genuinely, genuinely surprised.
00:46And I know virtually everybody would say that, but I had no inkling at all.
00:49So it was a shock.
00:51Very, very pleased, obviously, personally,
00:53but also because I suppose it is an award partly for science,
00:57but also partly for promoting science.
00:59I think it's important that that's recognised,
01:02because I hope it gives other scientists confidence
01:05to at least devote some of their time and part of their careers
01:08to promoting science to kids and to the wider public.
01:10It's vitally important, but it's not always been recognised as such.
01:13It's not a traditional career path.
01:15So I think I'm doubly pleased, once myself and once,
01:19because I think it hopefully reinforces in other scientists' minds
01:23that you can do a bit of this, a bit of telly, a bit of radio,
01:27a bit of writing books, as well as be an active researcher and a teacher.
01:31So there's two things.
01:32One, you need public support for science.
01:33You need understanding of what we do.
01:36Secondly, you need kids, vitally you need kids,
01:38to think, well, that's a career I could go into.
01:40I don't have to be a genius.
01:42I don't have to be Albert Einstein to be a scientist.
01:44And it's something that I could see myself doing.
01:48That's vitally important.
01:50And I think very interestingly today, actually,
01:53I think the Conservative Party,
01:54who have not always been the biggest supporter of science,
01:57seem to have supported it and carried that on,
02:00at least in the sense that they haven't cut it badly.
02:03So, you know, I think there's been a gradual trend in Britain
02:07to understand how valuable it is.
02:09And to look now, look into the future,
02:11I hope that we can build on that.
02:54Just a little, bless you.
02:56That's wonderful.
02:58That's wonderful.
02:59Just a great tour, please.
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