Question

Response from Higher Research Scientist, Acoustics Group

Response from Senior Research Scientist

I work in a scientific environment and my job title actually contains the word 'scientist'.

My actual topic is 'acoustics' in liquids. This means that every day I play with thermometers, burettes, microphones and a special kind of loudspeaker. I also use computers a lot, both to analyse data and to construct models. One of my teachers at school used to say that "it is always worth knowing in advance what the result will be before trying an experiment" - he was quite right. This is why I often find myself trying to predict results in advance using models.

Science is my 9-5 job.

I run the UK facilities for calibrating UV irradiance, gloss and haze, and am involved in committees dealing with the measurement and specification of colour.

My particular subject of study is bubbles.

You would be surprised to hear in how many ways bubbles enter natural and technological phenomena! You can find them in volcanoes, stars, the food industry (you know Aero, don't you?), fashion, engineering, finance, and under the sea.

Right now, I am studying what happens to bubbles when they are shot with ultrasound (high frequency sound that humans cannot hear, but that constitute the language of dolphins). This has many applications, e.g. in new techniques to fight cancer, in designing safer ways to kill bacteria on dentists' instruments and to produce future fuels. I use acoustics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, mathematics and a little chemistry.

An enormous range:

• Computer science: I write/maintain software to control experiments.
• Materials science: To develop suitable transfer standards for measurementVisual science, including the disciplines of physiology, psychology, chemistry, psychophysics and physics, in my work on colour.
• Maths: Statistics and mathematical functions to examine how good results are, permit me to interpolate, model and describe my results.
• Electronics: To build and maintain equipment
• Detectors: For measurement
• Scientific research: So I know what others are up to
• Presentation skills: To help me help others understand my work.

Recently,  I bought a cookery book called "The Science of Cooking". I wonder if it involves bubbles...

Most of them (except perhaps the cleaners and caterers – although they practice domestic science, don't they?).

NPL maintains and disseminates measurement standards, such as the metre, kilogram, second. There are about 500 of us engaged in measuring almost every physical quantity conceivable as accurately as possible, and ensuring that these measurements can be used by others by developing what we call transfer standards. In the case of temperature this would be a thermometer, though there are thousands of different types of thermometers - we are sent these different types and need to know how best to use them.

We intercompare with other National Metrology Institutes, such as NIST in the USA. We are involved in setting definitions for measurements, so participate on thousands of national and international committees, such as ASTM and BSI. And finally, with such a concentration of experts and amazing scientific apparatus, we are of value as a training centre for measurement techniques and for people to obtain solutions to their measurement problems.

Science is a way to describe and understand the world we live in.

If you want to produce new technologies, you first have to spend some time understanding the reasons behind them (like a journalist interviewing Mother Nature, if you like).

Also, science provides a way of predicting what will happen if you change conditions or pull things out of the box.

Science is useful for safety and it can be lot of fun.

Well, "because I have fun" is probably the most honest answer to your question.

I believe that the most relevant qualification is my curiosity. Since I was a kid I wanted to understand how things worked and was fascinated by science.

I started an undergraduate course in Physics because I wanted to be an astronomer, then I realised that I liked particle physics more (searching for the building blocks of reality... working with special lenses to see the very small, like being Sherlock Holmes with a lab coat! Too cool, I thought....).  I ended up studying the physics of very cold atoms: atoms that slow down under the menace of laser guns.

This subject was very popular while I was studying for my MSc, so popular that some of my colleagues won the Nobel Prize working in the area.

Meantime, curiosity had driven me down other paths: I had started a PhD on bubbles in absence of gravity. This included some zero-G work - how could I resist?

I then worked in different places, including teaching science in schools and university, working for the Environmental Agency (listening to people complaining about noisy neighbours or checking mobile antennas) and at Imperial College London (where I tried to squeeze energy out of bubbles). During this time I obtained another qualification: a diploma in Acoustics and some training in health and safety...and finally reached NPL, where my learning continues. Once one gets the knack of learning, I say, it is like going downhill on a bike without brakes: one cannot stop.

I started life pretty certain I would be a professional artist, but couldn’t decide whether to go for the lifestyle of a penniless fine artist or mercenary commercial artist.

Then I met a scientist and began to think that science would really be more beneficial to humanity than art. Interestingly, both art and science careers can build upon the work of others and involve creativity in building things and finding solutions. Armed with the wrong A-levels, I took more in a year out between school and university - with a professional botanist day job. I studied Applied Physics and Electronics at university. I even hoped I could build art into my studies, though the timetable was packed full already. I did sneak into psychology and geography lectures as most of my female friends studied these subjects rather than physics! NPL seemed the best place to do Physics and I have been here ever since. In the 23 years since joining, I have been involved in some form of continuous training such as safety, management, presentation skills… I turned down the chance to obtain a Masters or PhD as part of my work.

NPL is a scientific institution and, like any human activity, its day-to-day activities have an effect on the environment. On the other hand, several of its activities relate directly or indirectly to the reduction of human impact on the environment.

NPL is committed to providing a quality service to all our customers, taking due regard of environmental issues and a safe and healthy working environment. We are trying hard to reduce our carbon footprint by careful reduction of our energy use. We have a policy or recycling and sensible disposal of waste materials. In the longer term we are looking into geothermal energy generation. We try to encourage car-pooling and cycling/taking public transport to work. Several workers deliberately use trains instead of planes to get to meetings. We are also promoting a better understanding of environmental impact through our Protons for Breakfast science course for the public, which has now had over 600 attendees; and we know its course materials are used by teachers throughout the UK.

Scientifically (and this is not a complete list), ways in which our work is trying to help reduce human impact on environment include:

• A proposal for a satellite system to ensure accurate absolute measurement of the sun's output (we only really have relative data at the moment) for the climate model.
• Involvement in developing many new materials with lower environmental impact for manufacturing industries such as lead-free solder and carbon nanotechnologies.
• Involvement in environmental monitoring of pollutants, gases and even noise (sound).
• With so many UK nuclear power stations now being decommissioned, we help in checking radiation levels of the process. We will similarly be involved in the building of replacement stations.
• A facility to measure the transmittance of heat through building materials. This should help reduce the waste of energy (presently 40% of UK energy) through buildings to the outside world leading to energy consumption reduction.
• Involvement in the development of alternative energy sources from the measuring of environmental impact of wind farms to the workings of fuel cells, solar panels and biotechnologies.
• Representing the UK on many international committees, which relate to environmental and climate change issues.