July 9, 2024
The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is proud to announce it will honor Brian Cox with the prestigious Richard Dawkins Award on Thursday, October 24. The award is presented annually to a distinguished individual from the worlds of science, scholarship, education, or entertainment who publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead.
“I am delighted to receive the Richard Dawkins Award,” Cox said. “Science is one of the necessary foundations of our civilisation and the way we acquire reliable knowledge about the natural world. It has been tremendously successful and enriched our lives beyond measure, but we cannot assume that this success implies that it will always be trusted and supported. As with so many valuable facets of our societies, science must be continually promoted, explained, discussed and defended, if it is to survive and flourish. To be recognised as playing my own small part in this endeavour is a great honour.”
A globally recognized “rock star” of science communication (in both the literal and metaphorical senses), Cox began his career as keyboard player for the chart-toppers D:Ream before earning a first class honors degree in physics from the University of Manchester and in 1998 a PhD in High Energy Particle Physics at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg. Cox is currently professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester, The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science, and a fellow of the Royal Society. He has presented several acclaimed science programs for the BBC with an international audience totaling in the billions. As an author, Cox has sold more than a million books worldwide including Black Holes, Universal: A Guide to the Cosmos, Quantum Universe, and Why Does E=mc2? with coauthor Professor Jeffrey Forshaw.
“I’ve had the privilege to know Brian Cox for many years and have always had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him,” said Richard Dawkins. “I am very pleased that he has agreed to accept the Richard Dawkins Award. Brian is a brilliant speaker, a beautiful and intelligent writer, and a peerless science communicator. His work inevitably inspires and fills one with admiration for science as humanity’s most sublime achievement.”
Dawkins will present the award via video on Thursday, October 24, just ahead of Cox’s scheduled CSICon 2024 keynote address.
The Richard Dawkins Award is presented annually by the Center for Inquiry, home to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. Cox is the twenty-second recipient of the award, which was first presented in 2003. Previous winners include Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Timothy Caulfield, Christopher Hitchens, Cosmos cocreator Ann Druyan, Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais, and philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett.
CSICon 2024 is presented by Skeptical Inquirer magazine and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry; both are part of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), a nonprofit educational, advocacy, and research organization headquartered in Amherst, New York. The long-running conference for scientists, skeptics, and critical thinkers will be held October 24–27, 2024, at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.
“CSICon has always been an event where the brightest stars of reason and science come to shine,” said Barry Karr, executive director of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer magazine. “Brian Cox is one of the best known and most respected science communicators on the planet, and we are thrilled that he’ll be accepting the Richard Dawkins Award to kick-off this year’s conference.”
Registration is now open on the CSICon 2024 event website, csiconference.org.