Dr Nicky Fox is only the second woman to hold the post of Head of Science at NASA since the agency was founded in 1958. She has responsibility for around a hundred missions which are investigating the mysteries of outer space. These missions are tackling questions such as how do hurricanes form and are we alone in the universe.
Nicky was born in Hitchin in Hertfordshire and her father introduced her to the wonders of space when she was just a few months old. In 1969 he lifted her out of her cot to watch the television coverage of the Apollo 11 mission when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Nicky’s enduring fascination with the cosmos led her to study physics at Imperial College in London.
After completing her PhD she took up a post-doctoral fellowship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland. In 2010 she became the project scientist for the Parker Solar Probe, humanity’s first mission to a star, which launched in 2018 and is still flying through the sun’s atmosphere collecting data. Recently she oversaw the Osiris-Rex mission which brought back the first asteroid samples from deep space.
In 2021 Nicky was awarded the American Astronautical Society’s Carl Sagan Memorial Award for her leadership in the field of Heliophysics.
DISC ONE: The Best – Tina Turner DISC TWO: Livin’ On A Prayer - Bon Jovi DISC THREE: Lara’s Theme - MGM Studio Orchestra, composed and conducted by Maurice Jarre DISC FOUR: Danny Boy - Andy Williams DISC FIVE: When You Know - Shawn Colvin DISC SIX: (Reach Up for the) Sunrise - Duran Duran DISC SEVEN: Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day DISC EIGHT: Canyon Moon - Harry Styles
BOOK CHOICE: Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan LUXURY ITEM: Lego CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley
Classic Desert Island Discs - Annie Nightingale
Professor Tim Spector, scientist
Professor Alice Roberts, scientist and broadcaster
Jenny Sealey, theatre director
James Graham, playwright
Rita Rae, Lady Rae, lawyer and judge
Sandy Powell, costume designer
Clive Oppenheimer, volcanologist
Cillian Murphy, actor
Val Wilmer, writer and photographer
Jamie Dornan, actor
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cellist
Guli Francis-Dehqani, Church of England Bishop
Graham Nash, musician
Delia Smith, CH, CBE, cookery writer and broadcaster
Greta Gerwig, writer and director
Shirley Ballas, dance judge
Marina Abramović, performance artist
Pia Sinha, Director Prison Reform Trust
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