Silver began his academic career in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the University of Oxford, ultimately leading a research group.
In 2016, Professor Silver complained to West Midlands Police that British Home Secretary Amber Rudd had committed a hate crime while giving a political speech at the Conservative Party conference.
During an interview with Andrew Neil on BBC2's Daily Politics, Silver said: "I didn’t actually see the speech but I’ve read the draft.
"[7][8] During the subsequent discussion on the programme, former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard responded by stating: "Of course it wasn't a hate incident... What Amber Rudd said was no different from Gordon Brown [former Labour Party prime minister] when he said there should be British jobs for British workers.
The BBC subsequently reported that West Midlands Police had not formally investigated the speech, but had recorded it as a "non-crime hate incident" in accordance with national policy guidelines.