What is it like being a scientist?
I'd recommend it. You get to work with interesting people. My role is on the interface between Physics/Engineering/Computer Science and Medicine and so we have input from a range of experts in different fields. It's exciting to do things that people have never done before. It's also great to think that, although in only a small specialist area, you get to be one of only a small handful of people who have such expert knowledge. As the areas are so specialised and science is so international the job involves a lot of travelling. There aren't many jobs where you're paid to visit Hawaii. Being a scientist it's unusual to just work nine-to-five, experiments can mean you need to work unusual hours and because you're interested in the work I find myself thinking about it all times of the day.
What inspired you to become a scientist?
I wanted to go university, and wanted to study a subject that I'd be able to use in my job. I chose Physics, and also it was great that I was quite good at it. There seems to be a different ethos working in a scientific group, rather than a more routine job. People are interested in their work, and there's a sense of moving forward.
What is the best thing about being a scientist/ your job?
It's a best and worse thing: Because you're often working on new ideas it's very challenging and exciting. However, because you're often working on new ideas, you never totally know what you're doing. I sometimes envy people who are able to learn their profession and then spend years applying it, but maybe I'd find that boring after a while.
If you could go back in time which scientist would you like to meet and what would you ask them?
I wouldn't need to go too far back in time as I'd like to meet Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, who only died recently (2004). Hounsfield invented the first commercial 3D medical image scanner (computed tomography). These scanners, and magnetic resonance imaging have really revolutionised how clinicians can see within the body. I'd like to ask him what it felt like when he first unveiled his new scanner to the world, and about all the excitement that followed.
What do you do in your free time?
I've just finished a project installing a flat screen TV inside an old piano. I'm very pleased with it as it rises up, using a counterbalanced mechanism, when you open the lid. Apart from that I play football for a local pub team.
What is the first science you remember doing?
I remember making a crystal radio set with my Dad, mostly from two baked bean tins (having slightly different diameters was important) and a long length of copper wire. And it actually worked!
What advice would you give a school child who is interested in science?
Keep at it, it's worth it. Try to learn as much as you can now, as then you can build on it all later. Also try not to let too many ideas pass by which you don't understand, science is very interlinked.
What’s the funniest/strangest/most surprising experience you have had in your career?
Coming across a live iguana in a German mortuary.
What discovery or invention could you really not live without?
The computer. Well, I could live without it, but I'd have to find a new job.
What do you think is the most important thing yet to be discovered/invented?
An efficient way to store electricity