Profile

I think some people might call me a nerd… But I’m actually really cool – I mean, my Dungeons and Dragons character is totally awesome and I only read very good books! Science is just a thing I do on the side, really… Oh and I love Dr Who and Marvel.

Okaaay, maybe I am a little bit of a nerd, but there are so many wonderful things out in the world and life is too short to worry about what people might think of you. There are countless other things that I could talk about (animals, travel, cheese) but I won’t bore you with those, because it’s now your turn to ask questions! Looking forward to our chats 🙂

After 3 years of studying Physics (most people take a step back at this point) and Maths (by now they’re on the other side of the room) I took a year out to try working as a scientist (they’ve completely left now). It’s fun, I swear!

Everything in this photo makes up the laser!

In all seriousness, my current job is quite exciting and varied – I’m working on a cutting-edge super-powerful laser, which is the size of a classroom (see photo). That involves doing all kinds of experiments with the laser in a lab as well as on computers by creating models. Recently, I even went on a conference to Prague and met some world-leading scientists – I am on my way to becoming one of them!

I do like to start my working day with a cup of tea at my desk, while I check my emails and calendar… and I hear about something that’s gone WRONG with the laser*. Solving it usually involves going down to the lab, following the laser beam to find the source of the problem… Which is difficult when your laser is infra-red – INVISIBLE to the human eye! There’s a coffee and lunch break, sometimes some meetings, but at the end of the day, one way or another we fix the problem.

All geared up and working on the laser!

In between all that, I work on my own projects, using computers and programming to model systems and trying to create glass that mimics (copies) a moth’s eye to stop too much light being reflected. Each day is filled with different things, such as interesting talks on all the science that happens around me. By the time I get home, I’m excited to come back to work, but I still have time to watch Netflix, play Minecraft and go on walks.

*Note: things don’t go wrong every day, many days we work on improving what is already there… I just wanted to let you know that it’s okay when things go wrong, as long as you work to fix them!