Chris Smith

Chris Smith is a medical consultant specialising in clinical microbiology and virology at Cambridge University and its teaching hospital, Addenbrooke's. Chris is a member of the University of Cambridge's Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), which offers accessible, affordable, part-time courses covering a range of disciplines. He is also a Fellow at Queens' College, Cambridge.

Chris laid the foundations for the Naked Scientists radio show, podcast and website back in 1999. He currently co-presents the Naked Scientists, has been a science correspondent for the ABC RN (Radio National) Breakfast show, Australia, presents "5 live Science" on BBC Radio 5 live on Sunday mornings and also talks science and answers listeners' questions for thirty minutes every Monday and Friday on Primedia's Talk Radio 702 and 567 CapeTalk stations in South Africa. Periodically he also appears on Radio New Zealand National including contributing regularly over the last decade to the "This Way Up" consumer show about scientific breakthroughs, and Kim Hill's "Saturday Morning" talk show across the Covid pandemic.

Previously, Chris also created the Royal Society of Chemistry's "Chemistry World" and "Chemistry in its Element" podcasts, he founded and presented the first 100 episodes of the Nature Podcast for the journal Nature, and he has since also launched "The eLife Podcast" for the eLife open access online journal.

Chris has published 4 popular science books internationally; one of them - Crisp Packet Fireworks (now re-published under the title "BOOM!"), which has become a best-seller and been translated into multiple languages, was co-authored with fellow Naked Scientist Dave Ansell.

Living in rural Essex with his wife, Sarah, who is a local GP, Chris has two children, Amelia and Tim.