Martin Rees is Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He holds the honorary title of Astronomer Royal. He has received many awards, is the author or co-author of more than 500 research papers, mainly on astrophysics and cosmology, as well as seven books (five for general readership), and numerous magazine and newspaper articles on scientific and general subjects. He has broadcast and lectured widely. In 2005 he was appointed to the House of Lords and elected President of the Royal Society.