Profile

I’m a Professor of Physics at the University of Nottingham. Alongside teaching undergraduates, I manage a research group which focuses on imaging and controlling not only individual atoms and molecules, but single chemical bonds. You can find out about the research we do by taking a look at these videos, from the Sixty Symbols YouTube channel:

Sixty Symbols is just one of a number of science- and maths-dedicated channels from the talented and prolific video-maker, Brady Haran). Working with Brady has allowed me to connect with lots of people who share my interest in physics (and science in general).

I also blog quite a bit for the Institute of Physics’ physicsfocus project on a variety of topics.

Although I don’t share my infamous namesake‘s fascination with the binomial theorem, in my spare time I enjoy exploring the relationships between mathematics/physics and music.

Every year I visit my children’s primary school to give a talk on what it’s like to be a scientist. Here’s a list of some of the things I tell them I do:

Teach
Write. A lot. Papers, reports, books, blog posts, articles…
Give lectures and talks.
Do experiments.
Analyse the results of experiments.
Supervise PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.
Travel. (I’m writing this “I’m A Scientist…” profile from a hotel room in Prague.)
Invent (and sometimes build) things.
Apply for funding. (Lots of time spent on this.)
Make videos.
Write blog posts and articles.
Set and mark exams. Mark coursework.

And, most importantly,…

Try to understand how Nature works.
Play. (This is essential for scientific research).

My colleagues and I have recently submitted a grant application to fund our research to develop three-dimensional atom positioning techniques. (There’s more information in this recent blog post (although some of it is quite technical)). As part of what’s called the “impact” component of that application, we have proposed to develop a computer game based on the research we’re developing.

This game has the working title MekNano. The idea is that the player builds structures an atom at a time using different probes (just like we do in the lab). Importantly, the atoms can only be put together in ways that are true to the real-life quantum physics and chemistry. The player won’t need to know about quantum physics to play the game (!) but MekNano will use quantum physics and chemistry in its gameplay.

We’re also thinking about a ‘soundtrack’ for the game. This would involve a mixture of physics, chemistry, maths, and metal, a little like we did previously for the video below (but with more physics- and chemistry-inspired content).