What’s the big idea?

Zooniverse is the largest online collection of people-powered science projects.

The network of one million registered volunteers has already helped researchers and scientists with the discovery of new plant species, the transcription of papyri and the monitoring of animals in the Serengeti. All projects are produced, maintained and developed by the Citizen Science Alliance (CSA) in collaboration with academics and other institutions.

Why we like Chris

Chris is an enterprising astrophysicist and researcher using technology to get ordinary people involved in scientific research.

In 2005, he co-founded Galaxy Zoo, an online astronomy project that got volunteers to classify large numbers of galaxies using an online platform. The high level of volunteer participation and the quality of their research contributions inspired Chris and the CSA to expand Galaxy Zoo into Zooniverse in 2009.

Chris is passionate about connecting ordinary people with science. He is the Citizen Science Project Lead at the Department of Physics, University of Oxford, and previously served as Director of Citizen Science at the Adler Planetarium.

He co-authored Bang! The Complete History of the Universe, and co-presents the BBC’s The Sky at Night.

Chris studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, before getting his PhD in Astrophysics from University College London. He has published a wide variety of research papers and is a fellow at the Royal Astronomical Society.

Follow him here: @chrislintott

Photo, right: Chris Lintott. Credit: Tabercil. Credit: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.

Photo, left: Zooniverse website.