Profile
Simon Williams
My CV
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Education:
Weobley primary school, Weobley high school (Herefordshire)
Hereford sixth Form College
University of Cambridge
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Qualifications:
13.5 GCSE’s from Weobley High School
A levels (Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Maths) from Hereford Sixth Form College
BA Natural Sciences, MSci Chemistry, PhD Chemistry from University of Cambridge
Each qualification got me to the next level basically. I needed maths, chemistry, physics and geography GCSEs to get into sixth form college, my maths, chemistry and physics A levels were important to allow me to study natural sciences (a combined science course) at university, maths is particularly important for studying physical science subjects like physics and chemistry. BA and MSci were actually part of the same course but I needed a good grade to get a grant to do a PhD. I could have left and got a job after my MSci but having a PhD as well means it is much easier to get better jobs. The PhD also taught me independence and problem-solving skills, which are essential in my job.
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Work History:
Post-doctoral research associate at University of Cambridge
Post-doctoral researcher at University of Zurich
I’ve also worked as a fruit picker, barman, waiter, kitchen hand, yogurt packer and built dry stone walls…
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Current Job:
Team Leader, Research Chemistry
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About Me:
I live and work in Switzerland, I’m an organic chemist and I love skiing and cycling in the mountains.
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I grew up in Herefordshire, studied in Cambridge and now I live near Zurich in Switzerland which is a beautiful place to be if you like the outdoors – I do! I ski in the winter and cycle or hike in the summer, usually with my wife or my cycling club. I enjoy cricket, reading, drinking coffee, mending bikes and growing plants on my balcony.
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I’m a synthetic organic chemist which means I design and make molecules. Everything is made of molecules – computers, trees, cars, humans. Special molecules can do all sorts of things from curing diseases to fluorescing different colours, converting energy from sunlight to making your clothes smell of roses. I have worked on possible new drugs for cancer, new antibiotics and now I make molecules to help the plants we eat grow stronger and faster and be able to cope with challenges like drought. We use chemical reactions to change how atoms are connected, add bits together and gradually build up more and more complicated molecules. We then test them to see if they do what they are supposed to and then try to make them better by changing the structure a little bit. It’s ‘proper’ chemistry with white coats and colourful liquids and flasks boiling away in the lab and we make crystals and powders and liquids that you can see and touch and smell.
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My Typical Day:
I start work at about 7.45. I often start by reading papers in scientific journals to find out the latest science that is going on and help me plan experiments. To do experiments I weigh or measure mixtures of chemicals into a flask then heat or cool it for several hours until they react together and make a new molecule. The new molecule can be collected together by making crystals, which can then be X-rayed and weighed to work out exactly what it is. Often the molecule isn’t quite how we want it and so we do another experiment with a slightly different mixture of chemicals.
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Every day is different and I am always working on many different projects at the same time. I work with a lot of different teams of people, mainly biologists, computer scientists and other chemists and so we have a lot of meetings (all on zoom at the moment) to analyse results and plan our next experiments. We all then go off and do the ones that we need to do.
I have a small team of 2-3 people who work in the lab with me and between us we make all the molecules that we need to. We use chemistry search engines to find information about how to make the molecules we want which is often published in scientific journals. We have a lot of machines to help with things like purifying molecules using chromatography and analysing how pure they are using spectroscopy but a lot of our experiments are done using the same flasks and beakers that are in school labs. Most experiments don’t work as planned so we have to try and work out why and what we can do to make it work better.
I do a lot of data analysis trying to connect the structure of molecules with the results they give when they are tested in biology experiments. I work with biologists to do this and it is really exciting when we are able to understand how things work – its usually a very gradual process, eureka moments don’t often happen!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would probably donate it to an organisation like the Royal society of chemsistry who do great work to promote the chemical sciences.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
I make molecules
What did you want to be after you left school?
When I was small, a farmer
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No, not properly
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Bob Dylan
What's your favourite food?
Pasta with tomato sauce
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
A new bike. Another new bike. Another new bike?
Tell us a joke.
Ask a cow - they're more a-moo-sing
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