Mark Andrew Miodownik () is a British
materials scientist, engineer, broadcaster and writer at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
. Previously, he was the head of the Materials Research Group at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
, and a co-founder of Materials Library.
Education
Miodownik attended
Emanuel School
Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...
in South London. In 1987 he went up to
St Catherine's College, Oxford
St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although th ...
where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
. He completed his
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
degree in turbine
jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
alloys at
Linacre College
Linacre College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the UK whose members comprise approximately 50 fellows and 550 postgraduate students.
Linacre is a diverse college in terms of both the international composition of its m ...
, Oxford in 1996,
specifically
oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys.
For the presentation of his doctoral work at Oxford, he was awarded the
Hetherington Prize in 1995.
Mark Miodownik says that his interest in materials came from an incident when he was stabbed in the back with a razor blade, on his way to school. Realising that a small piece of steel had done him so much harm started his interest in materials.
Career and research
Miodownik's scientific research is primarily in
Materials Science,
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
and
Biomechanics
Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to organs, cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechanics. Biomechanics is a branch of ...
.
He has also been key to the development of the concept of
sensoaesthetics
Sensoaesthetics is the application of scientific methods to the study of the aesthetic, sensual and emotional aspects of materials.
Overview
The purpose of Sensoaesthetics is to understand how people interact with materials, and use that underst ...
, which is the "application of scientific methodology to the aesthetic, sensual and emotional side" of materials.
Broadcasting
Miodownik is widely known for his broadcasting and outreach work. In 2001 he gave a series of talks at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...
(ICA) on aesthetics in the arts and sciences.
[People]
Materials Library. Retrieved 26 October 2010
by WebCitation
WebCite was an on-demand archive site, designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally important material on the web by taking snapshots of Internet contents as they existed at the time when a blogger or a scholar cited or quoted f ...
on 26 October 2010. In 2003 he co-founded the Materials Library, a website for people working in materials science, with a grant from
NESTA
Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is an innovation foundation based in the UK.
The organisation acts through a combination of programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of part ...
. In 2005 he organised two talks at
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...
on the influence of new materials on the arts.
["Judging panel 2008"]
Art Fund Prize
The Museum of the Year Award, formerly known as the Gulbenkian Prize and the Art Fund Prize, is an annual prize awarded to a museum or gallery in the United Kingdom for a "track record of imagination, innovation and excellence". The award of £ ...
. Retrieved 26 October 2010
Archived
by WebCitation
WebCite was an on-demand archive site, designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally important material on the web by taking snapshots of Internet contents as they existed at the time when a blogger or a scholar cited or quoted f ...
on 26 October 2010. In 2006 he and two other scientists produced AfterImage, an installation that explores light and colour perception, which was exhibited at the
Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...
. In 2007 the Materials Library made a podcast, "What can the matter be?", hosted by the Tate. He was interviewed by
Jim Al-Khalili
Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili ( ar, جميل صادق الخليلي; born 20 September 1962) is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in scien ...
for ''
The Life Scientific
''The Life Scientific'' is a BBC Radio 4 science programme, presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili , in which each episode is dedicated to the biography and work of one living scientist.
The programme consists of an interview between Al-Khalili a ...
'' first broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in March 2014.
[
He was one of the judges of the 2008 ]Art Fund Prize
The Museum of the Year Award, formerly known as the Gulbenkian Prize and the Art Fund Prize, is an annual prize awarded to a museum or gallery in the United Kingdom for a "track record of imagination, innovation and excellence". The award of £ ...
.[ He often gives talks at the ]Cheltenham Science Festival
Cheltenham Science Festival is one of the UK's leading science festivals, and is part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for the Jazz, Music and Literature Festivals that run every year.
The 2018 Cheltenham Science Festival (6–11 June) ...
, of which he is a member of the advisory group. In 2010 he placed 89 in a ''Times
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems.
Time or times may also refer to:
Temporal measurement
* Time in physics, defined by its measurement
* Time standard, civil time specific ...
'' list of the 100 most influential people in science and delivered that year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sci ...
. The three-part series, ''Size Matters'', looked at how size influences everything, including the shape of the universe, and aired on BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 in late December.
Miodownik has done work with the Tate Modern
Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...
, the Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...
, and the Wellcome Collection
Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art". Founded in 2007, the Wellcome C ...
. He has close ties to the Royal Institution of Great Britain
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
and presented a Friday Evening Discourse in February 2013 entitled "Strange Material". His television appearances include Wonderstuff on BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
in August 2011, The ''How it Works'' series on BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 in 2012 and '' The Genius of Invention'' on BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
in early 2013. He also appeared as a regular guest on Dara Ó Briain's Science Club
''Dara Ó Briain's Science Club'' is a British science television series presented by Dara Ó Briain which first aired on BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It cover ...
on BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
in late 2012.
Awards & honours
Miodownik was elected a Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.
The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...
in 2014. His book ''Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World'' won the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, and a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (also known as NASEM or the National Academies) are the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name is used interchangeably in two senses: (1) as an umbrell ...
Communication Award in 2015. He was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
Prize for Public Engagement with Science the same year.
In 2017, Miodownik was awarded the Michael Faraday Prize
The Royal Society of London Michael Faraday Prize is awarded for "excellence in communicating science to UK audiences". Named after Michael Faraday, the medal itself is made of silver gilt, and is accompanied by a purse of £2500.
Background
Th ...
and Lecture by the Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, and in the 2018 New Year Honours
The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
he was awarded an MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
for "services to Science, Engineering and Broadcasting".[f]
Publications
* ''Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World'' (2014),
* ''Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives Paperback'' (2020),
References
Further reading
* Prophet, Jane
"Muse of the lab shapes edgy art (2)"
''Times Higher Education
''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.
Ownership
TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
''. 3 June 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
* Dyckhoff, Tom
"It's the stuff of dreams"
''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. 16 November 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
* MacLeod, Donald
"Building bridges"
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. 27 June 2006. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
* Mark Miodownik writing in ''The Guardian''
"Are you happy?"
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. 5 January 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
* Mark Miodownik writing in BBC News
"So who needs scientists?"
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
. 4 April 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
* The entire "How it Works" series was released on DVD in 2015 under the title "The Secret Life of Materials".
External links
Personal website
by WebCitation
WebCite was an on-demand archive site, designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally important material on the web by taking snapshots of Internet contents as they existed at the time when a blogger or a scholar cited or quoted f ...
on 26 October 2010.
Webpage at King's College London
Archived
by WebCitation
WebCite was an on-demand archive site, designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally important material on the web by taking snapshots of Internet contents as they existed at the time when a blogger or a scholar cited or quoted f ...
on 26 October 2010.
Webpage at University College London
Institute of Making
Profile at Intelligence
Archived
by WebCitation
WebCite was an on-demand archive site, designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally important material on the web by taking snapshots of Internet contents as they existed at the time when a blogger or a scholar cited or quoted f ...
on 26 October 2010.
Size Matters
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
2010 Christmas Lectures
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sc ...
, presented by Mark Miodownik
Strange Materials with Mark Miodownik
Filmed event at Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
, February 2013
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miodownik, Mark Andrew
Living people
English metallurgists
British materials scientists
Academics of King's College London
Academics of University College London
Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Members of the Order of the British Empire
People educated at Emanuel School
1969 births
Engineers from London