This month, Helen Pilcher talks to Mark Miodownik, professor of materials and society at UCL, and founder of the Institute of Making
What do you do?
I have been described as a professor of the mundane. I like that. Materials science is about noticing how the world works, then trying to make it work differently. Everything is made of something and that stuff is what I study.
How did you get interested in all this?
It all started when I got stabbed. I was 15 and this guy at the tube station said he would stab me if I didn’t give him money. I didn’t believe him, so when the train arrived I pushed past him and got on. But he did stab me. It made me think about the knife and what it was made from. It was just this thin wafer, but it almost killed me.
What cool materials have you made?
This story is from the March 2018 edition of BBC Earth.
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This story is from the March 2018 edition of BBC Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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