Sharing Ideas

How important is it to you and your team to know what other scientists are doing?
Pretty important. You don't want to be doing what someone else has already done. Also, other scientists may have interesting results or ideas which show that what you are doing is worthwhile - or, perhaps a waste of time! You can always learn from others, and perhaps more from scientists working in other fields.

Which scientist, past or present, do you most admire and why?
In volcanology, George Walker. He was my supervisor and he is one of the greatest field geologists of the 20th century. His observational and deductive powers are extraordinary. I particularly admire Claude Jaupart, the current director of the Institut du Physique du Globe in Paris. He has a great intellect, formidable theoretical skills and originality as a thinker. I also admire Alfred Lacroix, the great French volcanologist at the beginning of the 20th century. More generally, Charles Darwin has to be one of the giants of natural sciences. His genius was to be able to develop profoundly elegant deductions from the seeming chaos of nature

What do you do if your experiment doesn't work?
They usually don't work first time. You try to understand what went wrong and design a better experiment.

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