Martin Rees – The World in 2050 – and Beyond

Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS, FREng, FMedSci, FRAS is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge from 2004 to 2012 and President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010.

Martin’s field is astronomy where he has achieved many important results, and recently Martin has founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University, where he studies the fundamental threats and risks to humanity.

In his book, “On the Future: Prospects for Humanity” published in 2018, he demonstrates that humanity has reached a critical moment. Our world is unsettled and rapidly changing, and we face existential risks over the next century. Various outcomes—good and bad—are possible. Yet our approach to the future is characterized by short-term thinking, polarizing debates, alarmist rhetoric, and pessimism. In this short, exhilarating book, Martin argues that humanity’s prospects depend on our taking a very different approach to planning for tomorrow.