My baby’s my inspiration now – she is so bright and energetic, I adore her! she inspires me everyday to be a better mum and scientist

Hello caroline12 –

My wife – she keeps me going! Really.

Scientifically, one of my big inspirations is Max Perutz who worked doggedly for 20 years to reveal the structure of the haemoglobin molecule – the oxygen-carrying protein that makes red blood cells red.

His work opened up a whole new field of protein crystallography (in which I now work) and showed what intricate and amazing machines proteins are. I still gan’t get over how amazing are the molecules of life

Inspiration comes in many forms – I have been inspired by all you lot out there asking questions! I have been inspired in my science by a lot of key figures close to me – my old PhD supervisor who showed me that you could be a really top scientist and still have a life – work hard when you need to, but remember there is more to life. And by the greats – Humphrey Davy is my man…..

Hi Caroline,

I have quite a few inspirations, and I got the chance to mention quite a few of them on this site:

Martin Hugall – first science teacher secondary school
David Groome – inspirational psychology lecturer
John Padday – gentle man, friend of grandparents, expert in thin films and very nearly astronaut
Richard Feynman – genius, physicist, incredibly gifted teacher and communicator
Jocelyn Bell Burnham – discoverer of pulsars, generous and open minded

I was also inspired by Dr Who, David Attenborough, James Burke and numerous other TV science communicators.

In my own career lots of people have inspired and helped me, and I am very grateful to them, but I won’t name them as they know who they are and it will make the others jealous!

Thanks for giving me the chance to answer this.