Professor Jim Al-Khalili

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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 over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 2.

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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?

That is true.

Was that a teacher?

Well, it didn't discourage you.

Your passion for the subject clearly ran very deep.

Do you remember what first sparked your interest?

Well, I also mentioned that your particular field of interest is ichthyosaurs.

Tell us a bit more about them.

Were they quite fierce things?

Well, we're going to talk about them a bit later on.

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