Helen Czerski

He was a brilliant theoretical physicist, but what really made him stand out was his humanity.

He was a brilliant theoretical physicist, but what really made him stand out was his humanity.

That's the reason that he was such a good populariser of science, because he understood that this is not just about the numbers, that there is beauty in it.

I'm Dr Helen Cheresky, and I'm a physicist who studies the ocean at University College London.

If you look back at the books of his that were most popular and the lectures that were most popular, like, of course, you can do the technical stuff.

You know, he's very, very good at explaining and synthesizing knowledge.

But what he's really doing is making it human.

And, you know, there's that very famous quote of the discussion with an artist.

That's the great problem of humanity, isn't it?

You know, a tool is just a tool and it's the human that uses it that decides how it gets used.

I think in the past, there was a lot of focus on, you know, you just did your job, you're this kind of cog in the machine, and that was okay.

You could be a really good cog.

Back then, there was probably more trust in governments and in systems than there is now.

But, you know, a country acting as a team to get something done is kind of a very powerful thing to live inside.