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Roger Highfield | |
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Born | Roger Ronald Highfield July 1958 (age 65) [1] |
Education | Christ's Hospital |
Alma mater | University of Oxford (MA, DPhil) |
Spouse | Julia Brookes (m. 1992) |
Children | one son, one daughter [1] |
Awards | Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture (2012) |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Neutron scattering from chemical species (1983) |
Website | www |
Roger Ronald Highfield OBE FRSB FMedSci [2] (born 1958 in Griffithstown, Wales) [1] is an author, [3] science journalist, broadcaster and Science Director at the Science Museum Group. [4] [5] [6]
Highfield was educated at Chase Side Primary School in Enfield and Christ's Hospital in Horsham. [1] He studied Chemistry at Pembroke College, Oxford and was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Chemistry in 1980 followed by a Doctor of Philosophy for research on neutron scattering from chemical species. [4] [7]
During his research career, he was the first to bounce a neutron off a soap bubble while he was working at the Institut Laue Langevin. [8]
Highfield served as the science editor of The Daily Telegraph for more than 20 years. [9] During that time he set up a long running science writing award for young people, [10] [11] a photography competition, [12] the 'scientists meet the media' party, [13] and organised mass experiments from 1994 with BBC's Tomorrow's World , called Live Lab and Megalab, [14] such as the 'Truth Test' with Richard Wiseman. [15]
He was the editor for the British magazine New Scientist from 2008 to 2011, where he redesigned the magazine and introduced new sections, notably Aperture and Instant Expert. [4] [5]
As of 2011 [update] , Highfield became the director of External Affairs at the Science Museum Group. [9]
In 2012, he published the results of a mass intelligence test [16] [17] [18] with Adrian Owen.
In 2016 he launched a critique of big data in biology with Ed Dougherty of Texas A&M and Peter Coveney. [19]
In 2019, Highfield became the science director at the Science Museum Group. [20] For the group, he wrote a series of long-form blogs about the science of Covid19 [21] and in 2021 organised a special Covid19 issue of the Royal Society journal Interface Focus . [22]
Highfield is a visiting professor of Public Engagement at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. [23] He is also a visiting professor of Public Engagement at the Department of Chemistry at UCL [24] and a member of the Medical Research Council. [25] In April 2023, he was made the honorary president of the Association of British Science Writers, taking over from the veteran BBC correspondent Pallab Ghosh. [26]
Highfield has written and co-authored nine popular science books, and edited two written by Craig Venter, including:
Highfield is a member of the Longitude Committee. [41]
Highfield wrote for a time for Newsweek . [42] and still makes occasional contributions to The Sunday Times , [43] the Evening Standard , [44] The Guardian [45] and Aeon magazine. [46]
He has been listed on the Evening Standard Progress 1000 in 2012 [47] and 2016. [48]
In 2012, Highfield gave the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture, on Heroes of Science, at the Royal Society. [49]
In 2020, Highfield was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences [2]
Highfield was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to public engagement with science. [50]
Highfield met his wife, Julia Brookes, at the University of Oxford. They married in 1992 and have one son and one daughter. [1]
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