In celebration of Michael Mosley
Popular science journalism is all the greater for him.
RIP Michael Hugh Mosley (1957-2024), physician, journalist, and English national treasure. May his memory be a blessing, and legacy a more healthy and mindful population.
I am not a fan of the devil’s lightbox, but when it comes to popular science, every so often a light shines forth from the darkness. In Michael Mosley that light has been extinguished with his tragic death while holidaying in Greece with his wife and fellow physician Clare Bailey.
Popular science on the telly is, with a few honourable exceptions, dominated by celebrities who as a result of their over-exposure become full of themselves to a degree that science is partially eclipsed by personality. Mosley could never be described in such terms.
Mosley’s style as a presenter was down-to-earth, appealing to primetime audiences anxious about personal and public health issues. He was also an experienced television producer, responsible for such treasures as Alice Roberts’ The Incredible Human Journey. Mosley’s own highly popular series Secrets of Your Big Shop was like Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly without the four-legged feckers. The link was a mutual focus on poor human behaviour and what can be done about it.
I always thought of Mosley as a journalist rather than pop-science communicator. He delved deep, critically assessing the evidence both scientific and social. There will be more like Mosley, perhaps inspired directly by him. I am just sad that he left us with so much more to give.