LOUGHBOROUGH, Leicestershire, England (26 April, 2012) – Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, completed its first collaborative project with local school children at “Science World,” the largest lab show in the UK, held this past week at Wembley Stadium.

On 19 April, 14 pupils from the Limehurst School Science Club participated in the event and entered the Science Hall of Fame.

The Limehurst pupils, aged 12 -14, were tasked with producing their own product display at the show, and they worked closely with their business mentors at Fisher Scientific to develop creative and business skills. The pupils were not only excited to enter the Science Hall of Fame, but also at the chance to meet “Wonders of the Universe” star and world renowned particle physicist Professor Brian Cox. He paid a surprise visit to the pupils following his keynote speech at the event. Professor Cox congratulated the team on their efforts and spent 15 minutes chatting with them and signing their custom lab coats.

“We couldn’t believe it,” said Patrycja, 13 who was part of Limehurst School’s marketing team for the project. “We’d been watching Professor Cox give his speech about the big bang theory and had to return to our display straight after. Then suddenly he appeared at our stand.  He was really kind and looked really interested in our project.”

“Our collaboration with Limehurst School has been rewarding for everyone involved,” said Emily Quinton, marketing promotions manager at Fisher Scientific and event organiser. “We’re delighted that Brian took the time to congratulate them on all their hard work – they deserve it!”

To find out more about the event and view the highlights of Science World 2012, please visit www.fisher.co.uk/events.

The chemistry professor exclaimed that science is cool again after performing a series of wonderful and weird chemical reactions to audiences at this year's Science World at Wembley. He is currently on a mission to produce educational games designed to engage players in subjects and get them to learn through play.

Dr Hal is becoming quite a regular at Science World, and told reporters that he thoroughly enjoys the event every year. He said after this year's event: "It's been a brilliant day for us. We've been doing the science we really like doing to an appreciative audience of science connoisseurs and had a lot of fun doing it. They had a lot of fun too – we've been doing it for about seven years now and I think it really just adds to the event. There's science, there's commerce – everything's going on."

He also commented on the range of people attending the event, saying that he had met people on the day from all warps of the scientific spectrum. The event is designed for scientists, researchers, doctors to discover new products and network with other people within the industry. But it isn’t all commerce, there is also entertainment and educational events booked each year that give aspiring scientists a chance to get in touch with where the industry is at.

It is becoming an increasingly important event in the calendar, as more and more people start to engage with the sciences. Dr Hal said celebrity speakers such as Dr Brian Cox are helping to bring the sciences into the public realm, making it an interesting and engaging industry to work in.

He said: "There is a resurgence of science – it's cool to be a scientist now, and I think it went through a phase when it wasn't that cool."

The increase in media-related productions covering science topics is primarily responsible for the increase in popularity, according to Mr Prime.

There certainly does seem to be a renaissance (or revolution) in media focus, with the BBC, web and print productions looking to invest more time in covering science-based topics.

There is also an increased interest from groups such as teenagers and young adults, which has been bolstered by American network programmes such as The Big Bang Theory. Topics such as physics, chemistry and biology are becoming more appealing to younger generations as a consequence of this, which is showing throughout the public domain.

Mr Prime said:  "At the moment I think we're on a bit of a high, especially for public interest and consumption. Today we're talking about the scientific community rather than the general public, but I think at the minute they're just as interested in popular science as the lay person."

In terms of the UK, the country's schools and universities are certainly seeing a renewed interest in subjects such as physical sciences, mathematics and chemistry. Mr Prime once again points to the media, saying: "Whether that's related to new interest in science, Brian Cox's shows or things like CSI: New York, people are getting into it, and the idea that there is a career there."

Whether this turns out to be true is yet to be seen. There certainly is evidence of increased numbers at schools and universities, but it is unknown as of yet whether this will translate into an upsurge in science-related career choices.

He added that the government was doing the right things to encourage this renewed interest. He said: "They seem to realise that if we are to get out of the economic mess we are or are not in, you need to rely on a scientific base, and they seem to be doing the right kinds of things to persuade that."

He said that it was difficult to judge the kind of impact it had, but added: "Speaking from our own experiences, in terms of whether advertisers are still willing to advertise, we've actually seen a bit of an increase – which could suggest things are normal, or could suggest people are working harder to get the business they want."

Mr Prime didn’t rule out the chance of an impact altogether, saying that the recession had an impact on all aspects of the economy one way or another. But "there's also always been a sense that we've kind of been protected in the sense that, in this case, backing science and technology is probably a good way out of things. Equipment will still be bought, universities will still need to do research, companies will still be doing research".

In this way, the science industry seems to have enjoyed more protection than other industries, which has allowed it to ride through the turbulent times.

Phil Prime, editor of Laboratory News, was at the event, and explained that the day was very useful for his team in terms of both what they learnt and who they met.

He said that the event provided an ideal platform to meet their readers and also liaise with their advertisers.

Mr Prime said in terms of laboratory show markets, "this is the one I like the most." He continued: "There's an exhibition here, so people can do their shopping, which is important, but Fisher Scientific has got it exactly right by getting big speakers like Brian Cox and Richard Dawkins last year. People come for that too, so I think it's the combination of those two things to get them out of the lab."

This was a particularly arduous part of appealing to laboratory scientists and companies, Mr Prime said. The demanding shift patterns and workloads make it very difficult for scientists to pull themselves away from the lab, which is why added incentives can make a big difference at events such as this.

He added: "This is a trade exhibition – that is a good way to go and will pull people out of the lab. But it seems to me they also like the big names and big celebrities, which really does tend to pull people out of the labs. They also always take care with the venue, which is always good in itself."

Science World took place at Wembley Stadium on Thursday April 19th. Close to 1,000 people descended on the venue for the 21st event of its kind, which hosted over 80 suppliers who took the chance to exhibit their new equipment and technology.

Professor Cox took to the stage to talk about the big bang theory, the Higgs-boson particle and, of course, the large hadron collider.

He also took time to talk about science funding, signalling that the UK currently spends more money on defence research and development than on civil research and development, despite the fact that the science industry is "by far the most efficient in the world".

The TV presenter and particle physicist pointed out that the UK science industry is booming in terms of what we produce on the limited methods we have.

A recent report from the Royal Society called The Scientific Century revealed that the science industry in the UK produces almost 15 per cent of the hardest scientific papers in the world, despite the fact that we only have one per cent of the population and three per cent of the funding. Efficiency is certainly something the UK does well when it comes to science.

He added that value for money is also noticeably good. The UK and surrounding countries are blessed with some of the greatest minds in the world when it comes to science, which makes the industry a rather enthralling place to operate in. Mr Cox noted: "Looking at the percentage of GDP delivered by our industry between 1970 and 2006, you can see that today, along with Germany, France and the USA, [it's] at just around 40 per cent. So nearly half of the value added by our country comes from our industries, which I would argue comes from the three per cent global research funding and the one per cent of the population down here."

Dr Cox was speaking at Fisher Scientific's Science World event that was hosted at Wembley Stadium.

After the event, he spoke to reporters about restrictions on university places for pupils who are enthusiastic about science. He said: "The number of skilled children applying to do science at university is now rising.

"The big problem for me is that we can't educate all of the science students who want to come to university, because we're restricted by the amount of money we've got and various regulations about the number of students we can take into university."

Red tape and bureaucracy are holding universities up from allowing more students to study science-orientated subjects, Cox commented. He said they should be allowed to take as "many people as actually want to do science".

The TV star and physicist complimented the efforts of teachers in engaging children with science. In terms of getting children to the university stage with a passion for science, the system may be working. However, this is leading to oversubscription in some areas, which is a shortfall on behalf of the education system, which should ideally be providing places to all those that are enthused about the subject.

This is a point Dr Cox looked to make. He said: "The first thing I'd like to see is universities being freed up to actually be able to take as many people as actually want to do science."

Dr Cox was touted as the main event at the Fisher Scientific day, where a large number of people crammed in to the lecture hall to hear him speak. He discussed the big bang theory, the Higgs-boson particle and the large hadron collider, as well as the efficiency of the UK science industry and the lack of funding it is being given.

Speaking at Fisher Scientific's Science World at Wembley, he told a jam-packed audience that the UK industry has done some incredible things in terms of research and development, proving science to be the most efficient and financially rewarding areas of study.

He also pointed to the spin-offs that are associated with scientific development. He told audiences at Wembley Stadium: "The world wide web was developed, as Tim Berners-Lee says, to address the specific problem of data management in particle physics. Without it, Tim Berners-Lee has always said, there might not be a world wide web, or it might not be open source."

The Guardian recently compiled a list of the government's spend in 2009. All together, there was £620.685 billion spent by the government, of which, the science budget spend for Research Councils was £3.295 billion and the Higher Education Funding Council for England was £7.192 billion.

Professor Cox said: "I would argue that science in these two blocks [of funding] underpin the university sector, which underpins 40 per cent of our economy."

To put this into perspective, the UK government spent more money on bailing out the banks than it has spent on science projects since the start of time, according to David Willets.

Science World is hosted each year by Fisher Scientific, and is a chance for companies to show off their new equipment to researchers, scientists, doctors and all other enthusiasts from around the country.

The one-day event had a fantastic line-up, with talks from Cox and Gruber at the top of most people’s lists.

Jo Clegg from the University of Cambridge attended the event last year, and said she “enjoyed getting free samples”. She added: “I needed to talk to people about various safety products (gloves/ glasses) and there were knowledgeable exhibitors with plenty of items displayed.”

Exhibitors also come away feeling happy. Angelika Henneberg from Memmert said of the 2011 show: "This show was the best Fisher Scientific show we have ever attended. The number of visitors was extremely good, also the quality. The location was stunning. I was also very satisfied with the organisation."

This year surpassed the success of the 2011 event, with a host of attractions for visitors to enjoy. In the Great Hall, there were over 75 world class supplier booths featuring new products, demonstrations, competitions, freebies and prizes. As well as this there were a few new additions, such as the Twitter wall, web clinics and spot prizes.

If the science got a little too much, there were several acts booked to relax the tone of the event. including a silhouette artist, caricaturist, Miss Ballooniverse, as well as a few relaxation stations such as a massage booth and a nail station.

Finally, for those first time visitors to Wembley Stadium, Fisher Scientific organised stadium tours, which ran throughout the day.

Reporters at the event said Cox talked about the large hadron collider in SERN, as well as the Higgs boson and the big bang theory.

Brian Cox is renowned for his unique ability to get people excited about physics. He is among a narrow elite of people who can conjure up feelings of excitement when talking about the cosmos, particles or atoms. Before Mr Cox came along, physics was the talk of libraries in hushed tones, now physics is becoming a media sensation, with everybody wanting to shout about what they have learnt.

It may be that his career trajectory led him to become the man who put the bang into the big bang theory. He obtained his first class degree and PhD while playing in the band D:Ream, and has carried his rock and roll status with him into the world of physics.

Cox is currently a professor at Manchester University, as well as being one of the leaders on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. But if that wasn’t enough, he has also become a much-loved TV presenter and author at the same time.

He has appeared in many BBC programmes, such as the blockbusters Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe. He also has another programme in production, which will be eagerly anticipated by all physicists and Cox’s newcomers.

Werner Gruber also took to the stage earlier in the day for his talk. He has been described as “Austria’s answer to Heston Blumenthal”, and has a range of experiments involving food that take place on the stage. This was a seminar quite unlike any other you have experienced in your life, and was well worth a watch.

Check out the comments and feedback from visitors to the event on Twitter…