Personal

What do you think is your most important achievement?
In engineering…the Millennium Bridge.
In life….my son.

What qualities do you think are needed to solve a scientific problem?
The ability to ask the right question is very important (not all questions can be answered with the available technology). Perseverance and determination because, at first, the experiments may not work for technical reasons and much fine-tuning of the equ

What do you find most satisfying about your work?
Coming up with a really simple idea.
Using the end product incognito.

Which scientist or engineer, past or present, do you most admire and why?
Jacob Bronowski, because he could distil out complex thoughts and communicate them brilliantly.

What other talents /interests do you have?
The outdoors, rock-climbing and mountaineering, abstract painting, music of all kinds, rugby, cricket, soccer, cooking.

How do you relax?
By doing something so totally engrossing that you have to concentrate really hard, and then by having a quiet time. Being half way up a vertical cliff usually does the trick!

Finally, what engineering achievements would do you like to see take place this century?
100% use of renewable energy.
Personalised clean public transport.
Control of cancer.

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