Professor Jim Al-Khalili
speaker
535 appearances
4 recordings
2 series
first heard May 2026
last heard 15 Jun
Professor Jim Al-Khalili’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 2.
Appearances
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Imagine being told as a teenager that you're not clever enough to make it as a scientist, a paleontologist to be more specific, then proving those voices wrong by discovering some of the largest prehistoric creatures to have ever roamed the seas.
No, this isn't some boy-done-good movie plot.
It's the true story of today's guest.
Dr Dean Lomax is now one of the world's leading experts on ichthyosaurs, marine reptiles that once ruled our prehistoric seas.
But his journey has been anything but conventional.
Growing up in Doncaster, Dean's thirst to learn everything he could about fossils and dinosaurs somewhat outstripped his academic achievements.
He failed his science GCSEs and then his A-levels and was told by teachers to give up on his dreams.
But passion has a way of rewriting expectations.
At the age of 18, Dean sold his beloved childhood Star Wars collection to fund a fossil dig in the United States.
Not long after that, a chance discovery led him to publish his first scientific paper when he was just 20.
Since then, he's discovered multiple new species, presented TV shows and written books for both adults and kids.
Proof, if it were needed, that it's worth challenging people who tell you you can't do something.
Dean Lomax, welcome to The Life Scientific.
It's a great pleasure to be here.
So, as a youngster, you had to get past some really disheartening advice from your elders and supposedly betters.
Is it true someone actually told you to stop playing with dinosaurs and get a real job?
No.
That is true.
A teacher?
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