Martin Rees
Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge
I'm the UK's Astronomer Royal and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. My research is mainly on trying to understand our universe around us. Aside from astronomy and space science, I’ve been very much engaged with science policy, particularly how modern technology can be controlled so that we can harness its benefits but avoid its downsides.
EXPs by Martin Rees
The last 50 years of astronomy have been one of the real highlights of science. I’ve been privileged to be part of this huge cosmic exploration.
We need to plan as far ahead as we can, and one of my concerns has been to see if we can make any good, reliable guesses about the future of our environment and our planet and our technology.
We’ve got to bear in mind that intelligent life has a vast future. The Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years, but it’s less than halfway through its life.
What has been learnt about the universe in the last 50 years will be one of the real high points, along with discoveries like the double helix and genetics, and Darwin and evolution.