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THE link between Dan Dare and Britain’s biggest boffin is explored in this week’s Material World.

As Dan battled the Mekon in the pages of The Eagle in the 1950s, a young fan called Stephen Hawkin eagerly awaited each episode.

The strip championed technology as a force for good and was hugely inspirational to the nation’s children.

Professor Hawkin, when asked what influence Dan Dare had on him, replied, “Why am I in cosmology?”

Presenter Quentin Cooper also explores Britain’s role as the sixth-biggest producer of hi-tech manufacturing in the world.

V MATERIAL WORLD, Thursday, BBC Radio 4, 4.30pm.