Prof Jim Al-Khalili and Prof Monica Grady

Part of Space Shambles at the Royal Albert Hall

There’s going to be lots of great scientists speaking as part of Robin Ince + Chris Hadfield’s Space Shambles at the Royal Albert Hall on June 15. Some are going to be surprises on the night, some we’ve announced. So we thought we’d put up some mini profiles of two we’ve already revealed.

Jim Al-Khalili is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey. In May of 2018 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society which he described as ‘the pinnacle of my scientific career’.

He is also a hugely popular broadcaster and presenter of science television and radio programmes. Highlights include his 2010 BBC 4 series on the history of chemistry, which was nominated for a BAFTA, and the long running BBC Radio 4 series The Life Scientific. His most recent series was Gravity and Me: The Force That Shapes our Lives. He is a frequent commentator about science in other British media.

Jim has been a Fellow of the Institute of Physics since 2000, when he also received the Institute’s Public Awareness of Physics Award and he lectures regularly around the globe. In 2008 he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

He has also published a number of best selling popular science books including Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Science, Aliens: Science Asks Is there Anyone Out There? and Quantum Mechanics (A Ladybird expert book).

Jim has been a guest on several Cosmic Shambles events in the past and we’re delighted to have him speaking as part of Space Shambles. Though for all of his scientific achievements, Space Shambles co-host Robin Ince likes it to be noted he beat Jim on a episode of Pointless Celebrities by knowing more about cocoa producing countries and Syd Barrett. 

Professor Monica Grady, CBE is a world leading space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. At present she is Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University.

Monica has published a great many scientific papers on the geochemistry of primitive meteorites, on Martian meteorites, and on interstellar components of meteorites. She’s good with meteorites is what we’re saying.

Monica was appointed a Fellow of the Meteoritical Society in 2000, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2012 and a Fellow of the Geochemical Society in 2015 . She has been a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society since 1990 and was awarded the Coke Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2016, for her work in science communication.

In 2003 Monica gave the prestigious Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 2003 and was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 2012 for services to space science.  She also has an asteroid named after her. Asteroid 4731 Monicagrady can be found in the main asteroid belt orbiting the Sun if you fancy a visit.

However Monica is perhaps best known for her work with the Philae Lander, which successfully landed on a comet in 2014. A video of her highly enthusiastic reaction when Philae landed successfully went viral on many media sources.

Grady is one of the members of Euro-Cares, an EU-funded Horizon2020 project which has the aim of developing a roadmap for a European Sample Curation Facility, designed to curate precious samples returned from Solar System exploration missions to asteroids, Mars, the Moon and comets.

Monica appeared on our podcast Book Shambles at the Blue Dot Festival a few years ago where she revealed her love of the bodice ripper genre!

Don’t miss Jim, Monica and all the other brilliant guests this June 15 at Royal Albert Hall. This is going to be a truly once in a lifetime event. And tickets start at just £9.00!
 
Book Tickets Here