On Friday 8 January Nick Barker from The University of Warwick presented an incredibly informative talk to the Lucretian Society on ‘Making things better and why you should join in!’ The presentation was well thought through to capture interest and together with Nick’s enthusiastic delivery he grabbed the interest of everybody right from the start; something that is not necessarily easy to do through an online Microsoft Teams call. Nick represents his University by travelling to a countless number of schools giving stimulating and fun talks to inspire many pupils about the science world from a young age. He also gave valuable advice to the listeners about University and Career choices, Nick gave social and financial tips but also tips that are essential to succeeding at university and in the workplace. However, most importantly, Nick really encouraged everyone to follow their passion as he believed that is where they will flourish most. Work Experience and Degree apprenticeships were other things that Nick highly recommended.
Nick presented an array of fascinating topics and ideas including Kodak X-Ray tapes and the Trinity test, the beginning of Chemistry through the discovery of a purple dye, creation of new antibiotics, material science through quantum mechanical tunnelling and chemicals used to improve safety and efficiency of water and engine oils. He incorporated the perfect amount of detail keeping everyone engaged and ensuring all that he said was understood by everyone. Aside from the technical topics, Nick also talked about some fun, funky ideas such as the Ancient Egyptian method of long multiplication; personally, I loved this.
Another thing that really interested me about the talk was Nick’s continuous reference to mental attitude; to be resilient, passionate and ambition, and that having a hard working mentality can allow you to achieve anything. It was really inspiring for many like myself who are interested in science and have big future aspirations. It is talks like these that really boost the confidence and motivation to pursue these aspirations. Nick managed to do this excellently through not only incorporating lots of modern applications and break throughs in physics and chemistry but also by building the idea of mind set and attitude.
Nick’s talk was a complete joy to listen to and he was a true inspiration for many students of the Lucretian Society.
Floris, Lower Sixth