Brian Cox - Dispensing with the Notion of Elements

Professor Brian Cox ponders whether an advanced knowledge of sub-atomic particles will one day allow us to dispense with the notion of Chemistry.

Each day in December, we'll publish a new video revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people.

[layd]

Most of the commenters seem to have not cottoned to this being an enormous leg-pull!

[JakesGuitarThing]

So Brian what's your favorite film?
Well don't have one because films are just a collection of still images which...

[mayaenglish]

lol, I love him, he's so funny, I can't believe some people can't tell this is a joke. He literally bursts into laughter at the end. Adorable laughter!

[LuaanTi]

Chemistry will always be useful, exactly because it's an approximation - it's much simpler to work with, just like you don't use relativistic physics when working with conditions that do not warrant it, and just like you can assume that the Earth's curvature is zero for so many applications. More physics knowledge will be used to improve chemistry, not dispense of it. Just use the right tool for the right job, no need to bring your lightsaber to cut fruit :)

[robotfolly]

I have been in love with this man for so long.

[essy]

yes when he laughs but he dosent do that much these days we need a group of us to cheer him up

[Ahldor]

I think it was funny, what Brian said. I think it is fun to see scientists having a go at each other. I think he has more love in his heart than most people. And I actually think Brian knows himself that even if we get to a point where you can use physics equations to sort out everything what happens in the world around you, then the data will be far too large to handle. So chemistry and biology will still play their part in the long distant future.

[joeoconnor]

It's beyond space/time through the power of distribution and transformation
It is pure light

[scatterlogical]

Hahah, me too! His unbridled enthusiasm for life, the universe and everything is incredibly inspiring. If I were a woman I'd surely been swooning.

[jeremyelliot]

biology will dispense with you, Brian.

[MurrayPearson]

It’s all about good spirit. I’m 42 — not quite as ancient as Dr. Cox, but not bad — and my age was guessed at 28 the other night. That raised my spirits! :D

[ValsGym]

When we get to that point, what questions will we be answering? and what will we be asking? Is there a likely finite point of stuff to know?

[thephysicsguy]

He just expressed my feelings. I thought I was the only one who thinks physics is the father science of all

[johncrwarner]

I do hope that Brian Cox gets a Nobel Prize for CHEMISTRY like Ernest Rutherford who said "All science is either physics or stamp collecting" before being awarded his nobel prize for CHEMISTRY - the irony BURNS

[thesciguy]

As Sagan once explained, 'there is no difference between the atomic nucleus of a carbon atom and three helium nuclei", which basically means the same thing as Cox.

[LuaanTi]

Yeah, because it'd be so awesome to learn about biology in terms of subatomic physics. So much easier, right? :P

[islesofscillyardent]

He's got a 'higher' voice than I would have expected. I'd seen pictures of him and read a little about the programmes, but had not heard his voice until recently, (still have not watched his programmes) and was slightly surprised. Yes, I know this sounds superficial!

[mamarouxx]

Ok, I can agree with you and with this context. But you also said that Prof Cox is only a REASONABLE scientist. Do you know his work THAT well to judge his achievements? Do you suggest that University of Manchester made him a professor just because at that time (2008-2009) he became quite famous (because of 2 Horizon episodes) and they wanted a famous person at Uni no matter his credentials?
(btw sorry about my English, it is not my native language)

[benjorke]

dispense with biology? I want to see the person calculating the quarks for specific social behaviour....

[sammimitsu]

Yes, exactly. With all the so-called science, why are we not taking a big, funded, serious look at what really happens when we die, why astrology actually works, in spite of what skeptics think and why energy and reiki healing work and so on. The field of what he dismisses as 'new age' is so important to understand now, for us as a species, where we are obsessed with materialism but 'mainstream science' is ignoring it while the world burns.