I never thought I would have two popular science books to my name but here I am, and if you’ll indulge me for a mere second, I am so proud of myself. I thought I’d write a little blog post to tell people about how I got into science writing. This is just my story, and I know many other science writers with similar backgrounds, but others who came into the field from completely different areas of expertise too.
Fire & Ice is my second popular science title, which will be published by Bloomsbury in September 2021. It’s about volcanoes in space, and follows my book Catching Stardust, which was about comets and asteroids, published in 2018.
What inspired me to become a science writer?
Fire & Ice is a book I always had in the back of my mind as something I wanted to write, but I only just got around to it, 20 years after I started my Bachelor’s degree. My first science love was always volcanoes. It began when I read a book at 17, which was probably the first ‘popular science’ style book I’d ever read. It was called ‘Surviving Galeras’ by Stanley Williams, about a science team who got caught in an eruption at a volcano in Colombia. I have since read ‘No Apparent Danger’ by Victoria Bruce, which tells another side to the story, one that is possibly more balanced. Nevertheless, Surviving Galeras was the first book that really piqued my interest in studying ‘fiery mountains’.
Why would you want to study active volcanoes?
Why? You might wonder. Well, that is a good question because I don’t class myself as particularly brave, and so you might wonder why a book about a scientist who nearly lost their life on the side of an active volcano could be inspiring. But there was something about active volcanoes that just fascinated me, and I wanted to know more. It led me to apply to study geology at university, to learn more about volcanoes, mountains and loads of other natural phenomena. I followed this with a PhD researching ancient volcanoes in the Arctic, moving from geology into geochemistry, as it allowed me to sometimes be in the field collecting rock samples (traipsing up mountains, which I loved) then doing very careful analytical work in the lab, which always made me feel like a ‘proper’ scientist. I know that’s silly but I loved the feeling of being in the lab surrounded by cool looking equipment.
On the side of an active volcano
Following a science route through academia also gave me the chance to study a real active volcano, one on the small Caribbean island of Montserrat. This volcano is the place that provided me with rock samples to use for my Masters research, but I also got the chance to work as a volunteer volcanologist there when I took some time out of my PhD studies to do an internship with the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, which was part of the British Geological Survey. My love of volcanoes only grew at this stage, as I was flown around the steaming volcanic vents by helicopter to carry out scientific analyses, it was like James Bond science. I haven’t mentioned yet that I also love flying and was seriously considering that as a career before volcanoes got ‘in the way’, so to speak!
From Earth to space
After I finished my PhD, my science took a turn in a different direction. I took up a position at The Open University studying the chemistry of comet and asteroid samples, ones that had been collected in space and brought back to Earth by some phenomenal space missions (you can read a little about my past research here). This field of science is actually called ‘cosmochemistry’ because it’s the chemistry of space samples, but it really isn’t very different to the geochemistry I did on my volcanic rocks (they’re all rocks after all, just from different places). At this point though, I suddenly found myself on a very steep learning curve for everything to do with space science, and I was totally hooked! For nearly seven years I got the chance to work on some very exciting science, including analyses on lunar and martian rocks!
Science researcher to science communicator
Yet, during my research I discovered that I had a real passion for talking about my science to people, communicating what I did to the public and school children. After an internship writing for The Guardian science and environment team in London (here’s some of my articles), becoming a BBC Expert Woman, and appearing on countless radio and television news programmes speaking about space science and, in particular, the Rosetta mission to a comet, I discovered that my love of talking and writing about science had, perhaps, eclipsed my love of actually doing science. Of course, I’ll always miss my days in the lab discovering new things and tinkering with expensive lab instruments, but the world of science research is highly competitive. There are lots of good people (too many you could argue) and there just aren’t enough positions for everyone to stay doing what they love for an entire lifetime career. Not that I wouldn’t recommend it still, as a science background and the skills that one can acquire in science training provide a great base for moving into many industries. For me, that was a move into science communication, but it was still very daunting, like setting out afresh having spent a decade cutting my teeth as a scientist. Yet, I knew I would be doing something else I loved and, at the same time, hopefully inspiring some more people to love science as much as I do.
What’s next for this geologist turned science writer?
So, with two books under my belt I wonder what is next on my science journey. In 2019 I was invited to write a space show for the Hayden planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, an opportunity that wouldn’t have come up without my move into science communication. This was a fascinating experience, which took me to New York for meetings with the amazingly talented museum team who were making the show. You can read a bit more about it here. I never would have guessed when I was 17 and reading about volcanoes in detail for the first time that they would send me on such an interesting career path. I’m so grateful to that author, and others like them, for sharing their story and talking about science in such creative ways. Science might seem like such an analytical, precise field with no space for creativity, and whilst it certainly involves a lot of careful, dedicated work, there is no science without imagination. The scientists and science communicators I have been lucky to meet in my career are some of the most interesting and creative people I know. They push the boundaries and think ‘outside the box’, questioning their sources and thinking carefully about what they see. These are skills that would serve many people well in life, especially in the world we now find ourselves in.
