• Question: have you ever invented anything

    Asked by ace12 to Kate, Claire, Rob on 16 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by directioner4eva.
    • Photo: Kate Husband

      Kate Husband answered on 16 Jun 2013:

      No. The science I do is more about learning about nature rather than inventing anything new. I think engineers might get to invent things a bit more often.

    • Photo: Claire Lee

      Claire Lee answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      Does a drink count? Am I allowed to write that? I might get in trouble…

      But, no, not really. Not a “thing”. Though I guess you could say that what I do is it’s own sort of “invention”.

      I’ve been working on a way of measuring the energy of an event at the LHC, but in a way that is completely different to the normal way of measuring energy. It wasn’t my own idea – when I started with the group they had been working on the basics for a while. But over the last 2 years my supervisor and I have taken it into whole new areas, and improved the code a lot, so I guess in a way you can say that that’s something I invented.

      But no, nothing cool like Tesla or anything. Tesla was awesome.

    • Photo: Robert Woolfson

      Robert Woolfson answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      I’ve been involved in discovering a new molecule but that was very much part of a team effort. Mostly, I think I just invent new ways to make a fool of myself on a daily basis. Which probably isn’t what you’re looking for.

Comments

  • Photo: twbalderston312

    twbalderston312 commented on :

    you should…

  • Photo: Matt

    Matt commented on :

    Hey all, a lot of scientists think up new ways to learn about nature, so they invent methods. Sometimes the invention is a way of doing things rather than a machine or tool or contraption. Also, a lot of experiments need to be set up in inventive ways, because no-one has tried it before. I’m using plastic drinking straws to put crystals in and put them in front of an X-ray machine – so there’s a little bit of engineering in scientists, and a little bit of scientist in engineers!

  • Photo: Claire

    Claire commented on :

    Good answer Matt! Same for the physics I do – the Higgs searches, for example. Again, it’s stuff that hasn’t been done before, but as a team people come up with the best way to get the results that give us a whole new particle 🙂