Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist, science communicator and presenter of the BBC’s The Sky at Night. She completed a PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1994, after an undergraduate degree in Physics also at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø. She is Managing Director of Science Innovation Ltd, through which she organises public engagement activities which show school children and adults the wonders of space.
“51³Ô¹ÏÍø seemed like a magical place to me. When I was child, I used to go to the Science Museum with my sister. Walking past 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, I used to think, “That’s where the clever people and scientists go!” So to get admitted for my undergraduate degree was a dream come true in itself. The people I met were so inspiring. Tom Kibble used to take my first-year laboratory. He was so down to earth. To find out later that he had co-discovered the Higgs boson was crazy because he just seemed so human! The lecturers made everything seem so accessible.
When I was graduating, I thought careers were very linear. You went into a job, stayed 30 years and got your carriage clock at the end. But my path has taken me in many different directions and I have found that the tools I’ve picked up along the way are incredibly useful. Now I don’t think any direction is particularly wrong as long as you keep your end goal in mind.”