Jul 5, 2007
Captain Jack and Real Science
Doctor Who’s maverick side-kick Captain Jack, played by big show-tunes fan John Barrowman, took time out from his busy schedule to indulge a passion for mini big bangs with a visit to CERN, the world’s largest
particle physics laboratory and home of the large hardon collider (LHC). I suspect that Barrowman has not read my earlier post on the LHC and misread the title, but you never know.
Anyway, Barrowman took Manchester-CERN high-energy physicist, Brian Cox, along for the ride, and yes, there really are just far too many lewd puns to be made in the context of Cox, hadrons and Barrowman to be worth the effort. Actually, Cox was a ray of Sunshine, he was one of the scientific advisers on the recent sci-fi flick of that name. Barrowman, apparently, is genuinely interested in exploring the boundaries between science fact and science fiction. His fascinating response when confronted with the notion that a speeding proton in the particle accelerator experiences every second of our time as a seven thousandth of a second is illuminating to say the least - “Holey Moley”, he exclaimed. But, at least he went and donned the hard hat in the name of science.
Check out the video. Dig the groovy tune. And if you’re into that kind of thing you get to see Barrowman’s teeth, which are a miracle of modern science in themselves.
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David Bradley said,
July 5, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Julia Maddock of STFC who alerted me to this Youtube video tells me I need not have worried about going overboard on the double entendres and crude innuendoes as Barrowman grabbed Cox with a few of his own in the accompanying podcasts, referring not least to a tour of the big ring…
Hsien Lei said,
July 6, 2007 at 10:03 am
He’s cute and a little smart…maybe? Very interesting even for this physics knucklehead.
cottage said,
July 6, 2007 at 2:23 pm
.. haha yeah and i dig the music too!
David Bradley said,
July 6, 2007 at 4:36 pm
My wife much prefers David Tennant (Dr Who) to Captain Jack. I think it’s partly to do with the fact that Tennant is almost certainly not interested in hadron collisions…