Profile

Hey guys, I’m Rob,

I’m 25 and I live in London. I work at UCL and I’m a Physicist,

What do I do in science?    Well before I came to UCL I used to study at Durham University.  At Durham I spent 4 years learning about lots of different types of physics, some of my favourites were Space, Quantum physics and the physics of materials. I decided that I wanted to look at materials. I look at a special type of material called organic materials, and they are going to be the future of all out gadgets, (imagine an i-pad that is as flexible as a piece of paper). I spend my time looking at these materials under microscopes which are very big and work by;

Firing small particles (like firing tennis balls at a rocky wall and seeing where they bounce) ,
or running pins over the surface (like a DJ’s vinyl record player),

I also spend a lot of time firing lasers at things and seeing what happens.

Here is a show where I talk to the Guardian about they type of materials I look at tinyurl.com/Rob-talking  (our bit starts at around 2 minutes)

What do I do in my spare time?  I love music, sport, films and TV. I play the sax, piano and bass and love it, I also go to gigs, Glastonbury festival every year (its not on this year so I’m gutted). I really enjoy watching sport (6 nations rugby at the moment) and go out cycling most weekends.  Favourite TV show at the moment is probably Top Gear (or take me out), best movie I’ve seen recently is the Muppets (though I probably shouldn’t admit that).

Here’s an example of what I might get up to:

8:00     Get up, — have some breakfast,
8:15      Cycle to work (7miles, on a good day it takes 25 minutes) — have a shower at work

View of London from my office, Pretty cool, can see St- Paul’s the other way

9:00     Read my emails, check facebook, look at the news
10:00  Head to the laboratory, have some fun with lasers and hope I don’t break anything
12:30  Go to the gym for a bit, grab a quick lunch,
1:30     Head back to the office for a meeting with someone who wants to talk about some science,
2:00    Go back to the lab and use a microscope to see if I did any damage with my laser (sometimes I might have burnt my   material),
5:30    Head home and then have an evening watching some TV or meet a friend in the pub for a glass of shandy