Profile

I’ve always loved science and taking things apart (and even getting them back together, still working).

I like PC gaming – I can’t seem to get on with a game controller so it’s mouse and keyboard for me (does that make me old?). I like FPS and action/adventure games.

Films? I like lots of types, Marvel, DC, action, comedy, sci-fi and the occasional horror with my daughter (no one else wants to watch that in our house).

Music? Most types but I prefer rock and metal music – although I’ll listen to almost anything. <y wife is Spanish, so we have a LOT of Spanish music going on too.

I was born close to Lincoln, grew up mostly in Grimsby and lived in Seattle (USA) when I was young before moving back.

I went to University in Sheffield, work close to Manchester, but live close to the countryside.

I really like cooking – that’s chemistry with food, I suppose!

Atomic Spectroscopy means I measure atoms. Well, almost as atoms are really small so I can’t pick them up and look at them so I use special scientific instruments (machines not musical instruments) to help me out.

We need to measure atoms and elements as they make up everything and are everywhere. Some elements are not very good for us (like lead or arsenic) so we need to make sure the food we eat and drinks are safe.

The elements can tell us loads of information about ourselves and where we live – did you know that there’s a lot of an element called Iridium in a thin layer of soil (if you dig down enough) all over the earth that appeared at the same time the dinosaurs died (that element was in the asteroid that hit the earth and killed them)?

I do less in the lab now but work on making the software (the programs that make the instruments work) better and better.

I work a lot on the computer now, but that means I can help people with questions on chemistry and in particular the type of chemistry I’m good at – Atomic Analytical Spectrochemistry. Big words but it means I measure elements in “stuff” using special machines called spectrometers.

My main team work in Tokyo in Japan and I am really lucky as I have visited there a lot of times as well as many other places in Africa, Northern Europe (like Norway) and America – all for work and all to measure atoms! There are some great people everywhere in the world and science has brought us all together.