
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


How much more of our world could we understand, if we could take stock of it, one atom at a time? If we could see the structure of individual molecules, understand the complex ways they interact with one another, and witness first-hand how they move?
These are questions for electron microscopy, and more broadly, for Materials Science.
Materials scientists peer into the atomic structure of the stuff that makes up our world, to figure out the relationships between the structure of a material, and its resulting properties. They study how to change materials at the molecular level, to improve the way they function in the real world. It’s an interdisciplinary field that spans the physics and chemistry of matter, engineering, and industrial manufacturing. It’s led to an enormous number of advances, from nanotechnology to aerospace engineering, pioneering medical innovations to quantum computing.
And SOME of these advances are thanks to the work of Professor Colin Humphreys.
As Professor of Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London, and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Department of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, Colin works on materials with fascinating properties that would be hard to understand without delving into their atomic structure: semiconductors, superconductors, nanoparticles, and ultra-high temperature aerospace materials.
He’s also a committed student of Christianity and applies his scientific mind to questions of biblical scholarship: calculating the exact date of the crucifixion for example, or naturalistic explanations for miracles.
Produced by Emily Knight
By BBC Radio 44.6
207207 ratings
How much more of our world could we understand, if we could take stock of it, one atom at a time? If we could see the structure of individual molecules, understand the complex ways they interact with one another, and witness first-hand how they move?
These are questions for electron microscopy, and more broadly, for Materials Science.
Materials scientists peer into the atomic structure of the stuff that makes up our world, to figure out the relationships between the structure of a material, and its resulting properties. They study how to change materials at the molecular level, to improve the way they function in the real world. It’s an interdisciplinary field that spans the physics and chemistry of matter, engineering, and industrial manufacturing. It’s led to an enormous number of advances, from nanotechnology to aerospace engineering, pioneering medical innovations to quantum computing.
And SOME of these advances are thanks to the work of Professor Colin Humphreys.
As Professor of Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London, and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Department of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, Colin works on materials with fascinating properties that would be hard to understand without delving into their atomic structure: semiconductors, superconductors, nanoparticles, and ultra-high temperature aerospace materials.
He’s also a committed student of Christianity and applies his scientific mind to questions of biblical scholarship: calculating the exact date of the crucifixion for example, or naturalistic explanations for miracles.
Produced by Emily Knight

7,621 Listeners

525 Listeners

879 Listeners

1,045 Listeners

292 Listeners

5,484 Listeners

724 Listeners

2,092 Listeners

2,090 Listeners

603 Listeners

977 Listeners

415 Listeners

416 Listeners

83 Listeners

828 Listeners

337 Listeners

350 Listeners

474 Listeners

373 Listeners

232 Listeners

324 Listeners

3,141 Listeners

113 Listeners

68 Listeners

839 Listeners

996 Listeners

506 Listeners

624 Listeners

116 Listeners

272 Listeners

264 Listeners

63 Listeners

79 Listeners