Editor's note: The Life Scientific is a new series where each week Jim Al-Khalili, Professor of Physics at Surrey University, asks a leading scientist about their life and work - PM.
Sir Paul Nurse
It's exciting enough to be given my own radio series but to kick off with my guest on the very first episode being arguably the most prominent scientist in Britain today makes it doubly exciting.
Sir Paul Nurse is always great value for money - he has pretty much achieved everything one can in science: he has run his own lab, made incredible discoveries, won a Nobel Prize and held the very top positions in the world of science.
And yet it is his personal life that is even more fascinating.
In this week's programme, I try to play a balancing act between learning about Paul's life and career and what makes him tick while at the same time trying to put him on the spot.
After all, here is a scientist who began from humble working class beginnings to become the personification of the scientific establishment. I make the point that he is in a real sense poacher turned gamekeeper, particularly, given his prominent and influential role in controlling huge amounts of research funds and deciding which areas of scientific research they should go to.
I particularly wanted to follow up on a quote from one of my future guests on The Life Scientific, Sir Tim Hunt, the biologist with whom Nurse shared his Nobel prize, who has said about Paul:
"He was my boss when we worked at the Cancer Research Campaign in the 90s and we got on well, but he could be pretty brutal with those who crossed him. He would liquidate them - metaphorically. He is not a doormat."
Paul Nurse is clearly an iron fist inside a velvet glove. And yet, he is such a likeable bloke, and I am certain that won't just be my perception of him. He has such an interesting story to tell.
I will of course do my utmost to ensure that future guests on The Life Scientific also spill the beans, but I am a long way from achieving the hypnotically engaging charm of Kirsty Young, and have set myself up for that sort of comparison by describing The Life Scientific as "Desert Island Discs without the music".
We shall see. For now, I am just gratified that science is getting such a prominent airing.
Jim Al-Khalili presents The Life Scientific
- The Life Scientific starts on Tuesday 11 Oct 2011 at 9am and is repeated at 930pm.
- Jim Al-Khalili's website
- Follow Radio 4 on Twitter and Facebook.
