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Josh Hollowood

    • About Me:

      Hi I’m Josh and when I’m not researching meteorites in the lab, I love to be in the outdoors! I currently live in London but I spend my weekends hiking, rock climbing, surfing, and adventuring.

      I also have a black labrador called Splat, who I love to take for long walks.

    • Read more

      I grew up by the seaside in Swansea and all my life I’ve loved going to the beach, exploring the outdoors, and going on adventures.

      I studied Earth Science at university to combine my passion for science and the outdoors.

      This has led to my current position as a researcher, where I study meteorites in the lab.

      When I’m not in the lab, I help run an outdoor club in London where we go on adventures around the UK to escape the big city.

    • My pronouns are:

      he/him

    • My Work:

      I research the chemistry of meteorites.

      I do this to better understand how the Earth and other planets in our solar system formed.

    • Read more

      Our Solar System has the eight planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) moving around the Sun. As well as these eight planets, we have lots of asteroids which move around the Sun. The large majority of meteorites which fall on the Earth are from these asteroids (with some from the Moon and even Mars!).

      I look at the metal elements zinc and tellurium within meteorites. I try and find the exact amount of zinc and tellurium in real meteorite samples. Comparing the amount of zinc and tellurium in different types of meteorites helps me better understand how asteroids in the Solar System formed.

      If you understand how these asteroids formed and what has happened to them since they formed, then you can better understand how planets formed.

      Asteroids are essentially ‘baby planets’ that never got big enough to become planets.

       

    • My Typical Day:

      I start my day at 8am with breakfast (+ coffee of course) and I will usually get to the lab around 9am. If the weather’s nice, me and my friends will have lunch together in Hyde Park. I typically finish my day around 5/6pm where I finish off in the lab and head home.

    • Read more

      I start my day at 8am with breakfast (+ coffee of course).

      I get to the lab around 9am and my day can consist of:

      • Crushing up meteorites into a powder
      • Dissolving this powder so it becomes liquid
      • Using different acids to help separate everything from this liquid so I just have zinc or tellurium
      • Measuring the exact amount of zinc and tellurium on a big, complicated, and slightly scary machine called: “The Mass Spectrometer”.

      I finish in the lab around 5pm and spend the rest of my day looking at my results or writing about my research.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      If I was voted as the winner I would donate the money to In2scienceUK. They exist to unlock the potential of young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and boost diversity and inclusion in STEM-related fields.

    CV

    • Education:

      Parkland Primary School

      Olchfa Comprehensive School and Sixth Form

      University of Manchester

      Imperial College London

    • Qualifications:

      12 GCSE’s A* – A

      4 A Levels A* – A

      First-Class Integrated Masters Degree

    • Work History:

      Teacher for Summer Boarding Courses (SBC)

      Online Tutor for MyTutor

    • Current Job:

      PhD Researcher

    • Employer:

      Imperial College London

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Adventurous meteorite researcher

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        Astronaut or Dog-Walker

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Yes, I once played the keyboard out loud in a music lesson whilst the teacher was talking.

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        Perhaps a volcanologist. After meteorites, it was the next thing I was most interested in.

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Taylor Swift

        What's your favourite food?

        Carrot Cake

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        I wish I wasn't so scared of heights! I love hiking but I get easily scared. Being from Swansea, I wish I could speak Welsh. Finally, I wish I didn't get as distracted from my research as I do when the Sun decides to come out in the UK.

        Tell us a joke.

        Yesterday, the doctor told me I was colourblind. The diagnosis came out of the purple.

        How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Dog-lover, adventurous, and nerdy.

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