ACADEMIC, TV host and scientist Professor Brian Cox OBE will be opening Southend's new library. 

Professor Cox OBE has ventured to some of the most extreme locations on Earth – including the tallest mountain, the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and the world’s driest desert.

Now, Southend Council has announced that he’s heading to the town to give the opening lecture at the Forum.

 

 

The Wonders of Life and Wonders of the Universe presenter, credited with making science interesting and accessible to a whole new generation of people, is bringing his magic to Southend’s new £27 million public and academic library and learning centre.

Cox is a Professor and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, as well as researcher on one of the most ambitious experiments on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

 

In a joint statement, Southend Council, The University of Essex and South Essex College, said: “We are honoured that such a prestigious and magnetic speaker as Professor Cox has agreed to give the inaugural lecture at The Forum Southend.

“This will really help to showcase the new building as a hub of discovery, learning and teaching.

“Professor Cox appeals to everyone – so he is the perfect choice to begin the landmark series of talks to herald the opening of The Forum Southend.”

The multi-award winning physicist and broadcaster Professor Cox will be speaking in the new lecture theatre at 7pm on Monday, September 30 – the day the Forum Southend opens to the public for the very first time.

Booking information will be released shortly along with details of other special guest speakers appearing during the opening months of the four-storey building in Elmer Square, Southend.

As well as housing a new public and academic library to replace the existing Southend Central Library it features a new teaching facility for the college and new research and learning facilities for the university.

It will also be the new home for the Focal Point Gallery and includes the lecture theatre for speakers starting with Professor Brian Cox.

For more information, go to www.theforumsouthend.co.uk.