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, and a co-founder of Materials Library.

Education

Miodownik attended Emanuel School 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 t ...

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 o ...

degree in metallurgy. He completed his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in turbine jet engine 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 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, 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 ...

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 ...

on the influence of new materials on the arts."Judging panel 2008"
Art Fund Prize. Retrieved 26 October 2010
Archived
by

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 R ...

. 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 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, dra ...

'' 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. 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 speci ...

'' 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 sc ...

. The three-part series, ''Size Matters'', looked at how size influences everything, including the shape of the universe, and aired on BBC Four in late December. Miodownik has done work with the

, the

, 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 in August 2011, The ''How it Works'' series on BBC Four in 2012 and '' The Genius of Invention'' on BBC Two 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 cove ...

on BBC Two 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 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 Communication Award in 2015. He was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science 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 ...

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 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

External links

Personal website
by

on 26 October 2010.
Webpage at King's College LondonArchived
by

on 26 October 2010.
Webpage at University College London

Institute of Making

Profile at Intelligence

^2

Archived
by

on 26 October 2010.
Size Matters
Royal Institution 2010 Christmas Lectures, presented by Mark Miodownik
Strange Materials with Mark Miodownik
Filmed event at Royal Institution, 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