On Thursday 11th November, we had the great fortune to listen to Dr Jess Wade, our Physicist-in-residence.

I was very lucky to be able to interview her, and in preparation I did a little research. I found that her interests reached far wider than the cutting edge of nano-tech but also in helping increase the representation of women and other minorities. Jess recounted her journey in STEM, finding such little representation in the curriculum and so few role models for young students, with no women mentioned in the GCSE curriculum for Science. She described how since January 2018, she had written a Wikipedia account everyday day for a female scientist. In fact I’m the day she joined us she had just written page number 1500!

Jess was also keen to tell us of her fascinating research on organic semiconductors, and the most memorable fact I’d like to share was the existence of a Nano-onion, with layers of fullerene balls(yes that’s a real thing)! It was intriguing to learn how scientists take inspiration from animals like the jewelled beetle to create new structures for Nano-materials, and I really enjoyed learning about the potential for nano-tech in green energy.

Jess answered all our questions in careful detail and even recommended that we nominate more female and minority scientists for science awards so that we do our bit to increase representation.

It was truly a brilliantly informative evening; I look forward to perhaps meeting her again! Catch up on the lecture below…

Zainab A – Lower Sixth