What is it like being a scientist?
It has always been interesting to discover, usually by making mistakes !, and to experiment both practically and mathematically.
What inspired you to become a scientist?
Actually I drifted into it, as I left school with no qualification, went to the local technical college at 15 and found that i enjoyed maths, physics, chemisty and geology and was good enough to gain “O” levels. The staff were great, and encouraged me to go on to “A” levels (maths, physics, chemistry) which was terrific since I had been written off by failing the 11+. I would say that the enthusiastic, caring and encouraging attitude of the staff was the inspiration.
What is the best thing about being a scientist/ your job?
After 40 years I still enjoy experimental and mathematical work, rather more in engineering than physics these days, but that shows part of the intrigue: that a scientist is not confined to a narrow discipline, but can cover a very broad horizon.
If you could go back in time which scientist would you like to meet and what would you ask them?
Albert Einstein, a cliché I know, but I would really like to know what foresight would have made him do. Had he seen the potential applications of nuclear power would he have felt it ethically imperative to withhold that famous equation?
What do you do in your free time?
Bring up children, travel as a family, DIY,
What is the first science you remember doing?
Lenses and prisms
What advice would you give a school child who is interested in science?
I am afraid that I press my own children into visiting windfarms, hydro stations, museums etc.
What’s the funniest/strangest/most surprising experience you have had in your career?
Towing a wave energy model on Loch Ness in thick fog was strange: Nessy could have emerged from the fog at any moment.
What discovery or invention could you really not live without?
Electricity
What do you think is the most important thing yet to be discovered/invented?
A world with a sustainable carrying capacity of 9 billion people.