I am an astronomer by training, currently working at CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (near Oxford) as a Data Scientist in the British Atmospheric Data Centre. I am one of the three Scientific Secretaries of the Royal Astronomical Society, and I have been a Fellow for around 25 years. My research interests focus on dust around stars, both the dust around young and normal stars (which might form planets) and the dust around old stars. I have published around 100 papers (including conference papers). I have appeared on the Sky at Night six times (two appearances were ‘cameo roles’), and I often talk to astronomical societies, schools, and other groups.
I worked on the first Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS), and I was a Co-Investigator with the photometer team on the ESA Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). I know I was seriously interested in astronomy by the age of 13, because my chemistry teacher smoked glass for me to watch a partial eclipse of the Sun at school. I got a First Class Honours degree in Astronomy from the University of St Andrews, and was persuaded to stay on and do research. After my PhD I spent 10 years on short-term contracts in the UK, Holland and America. Then I had a 5-year contract at RAL, before getting a permanent position at RAL.
I learnt to ring church bells for the ‘Ring In 2000’ initiative, and I love ringing for weddings. I am very active at my local Anglican church, and I am a member of Oxford Diocesan Synod. I used to restore steam engines (stationary and locomotives), and you will find DNA from my scraped knuckles on engines at GWS Didcot, Kew Bridge Steam Museum and the London Science Museum.
I was very excited when the observing modes I had proposed for ISO actually resolved debris discs in the infrared, around Beta Pictoris using super-resolution and around others with multi-aperture photometry. I surprised myself last year by getting a starred pass in my City and Guilds exam for my evening course in Java.
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Last modified: 17 January 2004