Popular Science - Len Fisher

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Len Fisher (19??-)

Len Fisher is a research scientist whose career has encompassed fundamental physics, food science, nano-engineering, biomedical science, and even philosophy. He now works as a writer and broadcaster, where his aim is to open up the closed world of science by showing how scientists think about the problems of everyday life. Among his credits are an IgNobel Prize (for working out the physics of biscuit dunking) and an award from the American Institute of Physics for the best science book of the year in 2004.

By trade he is a surface chemist, which means that he is interested in how the surfaces of materials affect their properties and behaviour. His particular interest has been in how the surfaces of very small objects (from mineral particles to biological cells) affect the way in which they stick to each other. Through his career he gradually moved from physical problems (such as controlling emulsion stability by controlling the forces between oil droplets) to biological problems (such as preventing blood cells from sticking to implant materials), and has devised and built unique instruments to measure the forces of adhesion between such objects. These instruments are currently in use in a number of laboratories around the world.

Len's research career has spanned food research, mining engineering, biomedical science, fundamental physics and philosophy. He has been a Principal Research Scientist with the CSIRO Division of Food Research in Australia, a visiting research worker in the Physiological Laboratory at Cambridge University, an Associate Senior Research Fellow in the Anatomy Department of University College London and an Honorary Research Associate Professor in Surface Science of the University of South Australia. He is presently a Visiting Fellow in Physics at the University of Bristol. U.K.

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