I was born in Watford, Hertfordshire (just north west of London), where I was a pupil at Queens' School.
I encountered the Christian faith through the Crusader group in Watford, and my faith in God has been an integral part of my life ever since. More details of how I became a Christian, and why the Christian faith is so important in my life are given elsewhere
I have been a Christian for many years, with a long standing particular interest in how my Christian faith and science interact. I have recently found the Ship of Fools, where I have found a forum for debate that has helped my faith develop in recent months. I have included several pages in this site covering the the interaction of science and the Christian faith, some of these pages have been developed as a result of discussions on various threads of the Ship of Fools Bulletin Boards.
I am also a keen hillwalker, and I've included several pages giving details of selected walks and some photographs in this site.
I studied physics at Liverpool University, graduating with a first class degree. I stayed on at Liverpool to do a PhD in nuclear structure physics, studying the population of excited nuclear states using heavy ion induced transfer reactions.
I am currently working at the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre (SURRC) in the field of environmental radioactivity. This work involves measuring the activity of gamma-emitting radionuclides in the environment, from natural and anthropogenic sources, using sensitive spectrometers mounted in aircraft (a technique known as Airborne Gamma Spectrometry, AGS). I have been with SURRC for over three years, during which time I have conducted research into the response of AGS equipment to the complex fission product sources that may be released as the result of a nuclear accident, investigated possible improved detector systems and participated in a number of airborne surveys. Currently I'm involved in research to investigate the effect on data quality of altering several methodological parameters such as line spacing in survey.