The much anticipated visit of Chris Lintott  did not fail to please and delight those present at the talk on Friday the 25th of July at Bredhurst Village Hall.  Chris is not only a 'real' astrophysicist, but a very busy broadcaster and speaker with the Sky at Night team, his presence at a local meeting was all the more exciting.  The first overwhelming impression of this popular and personable speaker was of how tall he is (he must be over 6' 5") he looks a lot smaller on TV!

Chris spoke for an hour on his subject (Cosmology and the big bang) bringing to bear not only his superb communications skills as a presenter of the subject but the occasional flash of his intellectual side.   I made some notes of the points he made, but you really need to read the book to get the sense of the subject. Although we discussed the expanding (and inflating) universe for some time, and Chris was at pains to point out that it is space and the universe that is expanding from a point in the past and that the Big Bang was not an explosion into space that we could observe in isolation. 

 After his talk (and a cup of tea) Chris took questions from the floor on the subject and on the Sky at Night magazine and The Sky at Night programme.  There were many anecdotes (and mention of the cats; Jeannie and Ptolemy), he had the audience alternately laughing and spellbound.  Chris answered all the questions directly and amusingly, pointing out that some were not in his area of expertise and he deftly sidestepped questions on global warming and his future roles on TV.   He made reference to the unwritten 'pages 1 & 2' of the history of the universe on more than one occasion.

Chris poses with members after the talk.

It is very gratifying to meet an icon of our time and find that they actually live up to your expectations.  Chris did more than that for us, if he didn't find the room full of his fans when he arrived, he most surely left a room full afterwards.

Chris Lintott has a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in astrophysics from University College London, where his thesis was on the subject of star formation. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and is presently involved in post-doctoral research in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford and is a junior research fellow at Somerville College. His research there focuses on the application of astrochemical models of star formation to galaxies beyond the Milky Way; particularly the use of sulphur compounds as a signature of stars that are in the process of forming Chris is the co-presenter (and roving reporter) for the BBC programme The Sky at Night and has been leading an online crowdsourcing project where members of the public can volunteer their time to assist in classifying over a million galaxies named Galaxy Zoo .  Chris is also a frequent contributor of articles to the BBC Sky at Night magazine and the  BBC's Science News website