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Professor Carlos Frenk

Professor Carlos Frenk, computational cosmologist, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.

Professor Carlos Frenk is a cosmologist and one of the originators of the Cold Dark Matter theory for the formation of galaxies and the structure of the universe. He has worked at Durham University since 1985, where he was appointed the inaugural Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics in 2001 and has been Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology since 2002.

Born in Mexico in 1951, he is the son of a German Jewish immigrant father and a Mexican mother with Spanish roots. After completing his physics degree in Mexico, he came to Cambridge University in the mid-1970s to do a PhD in Astronomy. His first postgraduate job took him to the University of California where he worked on a computer simulation of the universe with three fellow cosmologists, disproving the idea that the universe contains hot dark matter and establishing the theory of cold dark matter instead.

Professor Frenk's papers have received more than 100,000 citations, making him one of the most frequently cited authors in the field of space science and astronomy. He has won a number of prizes for his work, including the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was awarded a CBE in 2017.

Presenter: Kirsty Young
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

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40 minutes

Last on

Fri 15 Jun 2018 09:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Music Played

  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Queen of the Night aria

      Performer: Anna Siminska. Conductor: Cornelius Meister. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Choir: Royal Opera House Chorus.
      • Opera on 3 - Die Zauberflote, Royal Opera House (broadcast 13th April 2018).

  • anonymous

    El Son de la Negra

    Orchestra: Mariachi el Zocalo.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto No. 20, 2nd movement

    Performer: Tere Frenk. Conductor: Enrique Barrios. Orchestra: Orquesta FilarmΓ³nica de la UNAM.

  • The Beatles

    Eleanor Rigby

    • Revolver.
    • EMI Records Limited.
    • 2.

  • Mercedes Sosa

    Gracias a la Vida

    • En Argentina.
    • Universal Music Latino.
    • 5.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Triple Concerto - 3rd movement - Rondo Alla Polacca frenk

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Itzhak Perlman. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Beethoven -Triple Concerto - Choral Fantasy.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 3.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Symphony No. 3 in A minor, 'Scottish', 2nd movement

    Conductor: Joseph Swensen. Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
    • Felix Mendelssohn - Swensen / SCO.
    • Linn.
    • 6.

  • Robert Schumann

    Melodie

    Performer: Rico Gulda.
    • Schumann: Album fur die Jungend, Op. 68.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.

  • BOOK CHOICE

    Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges

  • LUXURY ITEM

    A planetarium

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Carlos Frenk
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 10 Jun 2018 11:15
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 FM
  • Fri 15 Jun 2018 09:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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