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The Greatest British Innovation

March 24, 2013 by 1 Comment

What British innovation has had the biggest impact on our lives? And which British discovery is likely to revolutionise the world in the future? A vote on these topics is currently under way as part of the GREAT Campaign. It’s organised by the Science Museum, National Media Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, the National Railway Museum, Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society, British Science Association and Engineering UK. Today is the last day to vote and results will be announced tomorrow.

The list of past innovations is really fascinating – some I don’t know so much about, others I can’t even imagine life or society without them. I’ve been pondering what I would vote for all week, and I still can’t decide.

I’m naturally drawn to those in the physics/space/astronomy fields, such as

  • Jocelyn Bell-Burnell’s discovery of pulsars;
  • the prediction of Hawking radiation from black holes;
  • Rutherford’s discovery of the neutron;
  • the UCL-designed Photon Detector Assembly for the Hubble Space Telescope;
  • the prediction of the existence of anti-matter;
  • proving the existence of singularities;
  • testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity;

but then what about all those other amazing inventions that I couldn’t imagine living without?! There are a few listed that have played prominent roles in my own career in astronomy instrumentation, such as the development of carbon fibre composites. The topic of my PhD was the application of carbon fibre composites to the manufacture of deformable mirrors for aerospace and astronomy. The text lists mainly sporting applications of these materials, and Britain’s (past) dominance in the building of Formula 1 cars is indeed very cool. But CFC materials are now also heavily used in aerospace, including space-based satellites and instruments for astronomy, and we’re nowhere near the limit of what can be achieved with these versatile materials.

During my PhD again I made extensive use of finite element analysis, and I didn’t even know that the development of the finite element method came out of a British university, Swansea. Engineering without FEA is these days unthinkable, and the method is now routinely applied to very complex problems, from mechanical engineering to biomedical modelling.

And then I haven’t even considered all the biomedical discoveries and innovations! The structure of DNA, the discovery of the ATP enzyme, hip replacements, the first randomised controlled trials, and early work in the development of three major medical scanning techniques – ultrasound, computerised tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.

Finally near the bottom of the list is the one that possibly blows everything else out of the water: the World Wide Web. And it’s not even currently listed in the top 5!.Maybe I’m not enough of a car fan, but those who pick the design of the Mini out of this amazing list of discoveries are Missing a Point – just saying. One more day to vote! I really have to make up my mind now.

 

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Long distance astronomer

January 1, 2013 by 2 Comments
Lesson #9: Appropriate footwear is crucial

Lesson #9: Appropriate footwear is crucial

And so another year ends in a flurry of travel, family, bad weather, presents, great food and drink(s). 2012 was an interesting year  - my trip to Paranal, the fun MIRI day in London in May and the instrument’s delivery to NASA, first results from the Milky Way Project, and the BBC News in my kitchen were particular work-related highlights. And of course, with work placing ever more demands on my time and energy, every minute spent with good friends and family gains in value accordingly.

As many of my twitter followers and facebook friends have probably noticed, one big development of 2012 is that I’ve managed to get myself back into running, after a few years of lying low in that area. In 2012 I completed a half marathon and two 10 km races (all in the final three months of the year, I should add – which possibly explains my permanently achy legs these days). Over the course of the year, I clocked up 1040 km, mostly in Heidelberg and Belgium but with noted outings in Austin, London, Paris, Nottingham and Amsterdam.

My experience with running, I realise more and more, is highly transferable into other aspects of life. As well as provide me with much-needed fresh air and stressbusting after a hard day at work, it’s particularly useful for dealing with the trials and tribulations of being an academic. So to start off the new year, here are my Lessons from Running, As Applicable to Life*.

1. Set long term goals, but remember to enjoy the journey as you get there.

2. Don’t waste your time: every run should contribute to your goal.

3. Don’t lose sleep over a bad time. There’s always another day.

4. Autumn forests are beautiful, but beware of falling chestnuts (ditto: free-running dogs).

5. A really bad run is always followed by a really good one. It’s called regression to the mean, and it feels damn good. (NB: that’s poor comfort if your bad run falls on race day, in which case: see 3)

6. Even if you prefer running alone, you’re still going to need someone to hold your snacks and warm clothes on race day.

7. You can’t fake running, and if you’re running, you’re a Runner. It’s not actually possible to be an impostor here.

8. “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” (thanks, Murakami)

9. Appropriate footwear is crucial.

10. Apply vaseline liberally.

And with that, I wish you all a most excellent 2013!

*sometimes in ways I haven’t quite figured out yet

[By coincidence, the Guardian have an editorial today in praise of winter running. I agree with it entirely - there is nothing quite like those first seconds under a hot shower after a frosty snowy run!]

IMAG0153

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So you want to do an instrumentation PhD

October 1, 2012 by 1 Comment

In the last couple of years I’ve been asked several times for advice on PhDs in astronomy, and instrumentation PhDs in particular. Many aspects of choosing a PhD became obvious to me only with hindsight, after I’d been a postdoc for a few years. Being at different institutes and seeing how postgraduate education is done differently in different countries (or even at different institutes within a country) have made various pros and cons clearer.

The simple availability of money for students for example makes a huge difference: in the UK, PhD stipends (in my time at least) came with a relatively small amount of travel money, allowing us to attend just one major conference over 3 years and perhaps 1-2 smaller ones. Every penny had to be squeezed out of the department. In Leiden, conversely, students were really pushed to travel, attend conferences, and many students would even visit collaborators abroad for extended periods of time. In their final year, they’re given the opportunity to go on a “talk tour”, usually round the US, to give seminars and colloquia about their work. These students were generally more confident about their research, better connected and very successful in the jobs market if they chose to apply for postdoc positions or fellowships.

This is not to say: UK bad, Netherlands good. It’s just an example, and there are pros and cons to every system. But it’s really important to get informed about every aspect of your PhD when you’re thinking of where to apply, and in what field. Anthony Finkelstein, who’s a Professor of Engineering at UCL in London, recently wrote a few blog posts on how to choose a PhD, and I thought these were really good – check them out.

I was recently interviewed by Physics World about careers in science, specifically postdoc careers. I think the article should be in the next issue, and from what I’ve seen it should be a good read. I’ll post something about that when it gets published.

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3 Quarks Daily Science Prize

May 24, 2011 by

Somewhat legendary science and culture blog 3 Quarks Daily has just announced the 3rd instalment of its science blogging prize. This year’s competition will be judged by physicist and writer Lisa Randall, which is awesome, and I hope to see some good physics writing given the nod.

All details are here, and you have until 31 May, 11:59 pm EST, to nominate your favourite online science writing in the comments of that same post.

 

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In which I get Celebrated in The Guardian

September 17, 2010 by

Amidst the perennial discussion of how to get more women into scientific careers and keep them there, it hadn’t occurred to me that female science bloggers may also be in a minority.

A few days ago, Jenny Rohn posted a graph on her blog, showing the male to female ratio of several science blog networks: the well-established Discover and relative newcomers The Guardian, Wired and PLoS. She didn’t actually make any statement about gender balance or proportionality of representation – that was me – but an interesting discussion followed in the comments. Self-proclaimed “armchair activist” Martin Robbins started a hashtag, kickstarted the hive overmind, and collated a list of women science bloggers over at his new perch in The Guardian.

So that’s how my name ended up in my favourite newspaper. Hurrah.

It’s a really nice initiative to get more attention to us women who write about science. Female role models have been cited as an important factor in getting and keeping more women in science careers, and in that respect increasing the visibility of working female scientists is a great idea.

And yet, and yet. I don’t think singling women out is particularly constructive way to approach a gender balance issue – a gender balance issue that, in this case, we don’t even know for sure exists.

[Read more...]

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