[11] He recalls a happy childhood in Oldham that included pursuits such as dance, gymnastics, and plane and bus spotting.

[13][14][15] Cox has stated in many interviews and in an episode of Wonders of the Universe[16] that when he was 12, the book Cosmos by Carl Sagan was a key factor in inspiring him to become a physicist.

[20] Cox wrote the foreword of the official Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark biography, OMD: Pretending to See the Future (2018), having been an "obsessive" fan of the band in his youth.

After D:Ream disbanded in 1997, he completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in high-energy particle physics at the University of Manchester in 1998.

[25] His thesis, Double Diffraction Dissociation at Large Momentum Transfer,[25] was supervised by Robin Marshall[25][26] and based on research he did on the H1 experiment at the Hadron Elektron Ring Anlage (HERA)[25][27] particle accelerator at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg, Germany.

[54] BBC Two commissioned Cox to copresent Stargazing Live, a three-day live astronomy series in January 2011 – co-presented with comedian Dara Ó Briain and featuring chat show host Jonathan Ross[55] – linked to events across the United Kingdom.

[56] Since November 2009, Cox has co-presented a BBC Radio 4 "comedy science magazine programme", The Infinite Monkey Cage, with comedian Robin Ince.

[57] Guests have included comedians Tim Minchin, Alexei Sayle, Dara Ó Briain, and scientists including Alice Roberts of the BBC show The Incredible Human Journey, Callum Roberts,[58] a chief scientific advisor for Blue Planet,[59] and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

In November 2010 he made a promotional appearance in the Covent Garden Apple Store, talking about his new e-book set to accompany his new television series as well as answering audience questions.

On 4 March, a talk entitled "Frankenstein's Science" at the National Theatre featured Cox in discussion with biographer Richard Holmes on Mary Shelley's exploration of humanity's desire to bring life to an inanimate object and whether the notion is possible, in both the 19th century and today.

[68] In 2017, Cox appeared in the children's television programme Postman Pat, voicing space expert Professor Ryan Farrow.

In 2002 he was elected an International Fellow of The Explorers Club and in 2006 he received the British Association's Lord Kelvin Award for this work.

On 25 March 2011, he won twice at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for 'Best Performer' in a non-acting role, while Wonders of the Solar System was named best documentary series of 2010.

[83][84] Later that year, he was awarded the Institute of Physics President's medal by Sir Peter Knight, following which he gave a speech on the value of education in science and the need to invest more in future generations of scientists.

"[89] On 23 June 2018, the People's Vote march was held in London to mark the second anniversary of the referendum to leave the European Union.

Cox tweeted, "if [a people's vote were] held on known exit terms and leave commanded majority, I'd back it as settled, informed decision.

"[90] Cox has said referring to the will of "the British people" should be banned from political discourse, calling the phrase's usage by Conservative MP Priti Patel "inflammatory and divisive".

[92] Despite lacking a belief in deities, Cox has rejected the label "atheist" and has instead preferred to describe himself as having "no personal faith".

[9] "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License."