| Jonathan Williams Blog Entry |
Personal ProfileName: Jonathan Williams Age: 39 Location: Mainz, Germany Job: Research Group Leader Institution/University: Max Plank Institute Education: School in Abergavenny and Sheffield Degree in Chemistry and French at the University of East and Anglia and then PhD at the same place. Three years postdoc research in Colorado, USA. Now at a research institute in Germany. Date: 24th April 2007 Time: 9.38am Location: Work Title: An atmospheric scientist Hello everyone, I´m a scientist working at the Max Planck Institute for Air Chemistry, in sunny southwest Germany. This institute is specialised in investigating the Earth´s atmosphere including many of the “hot” topics of today, such as global warming, the ozone hole, photochemical smog etc.(http://www.mpch-mainz.mpg.de/) Times newspaper article discussing Jonathan Williams' work: Article Like all scientists, I like to measure things to find out what they do. In the atmosphere, it is important to know the concentrations of gases such as ozone, CFCs, carbon dioxide. This is easier said than done since most of the atmosphere is nitrogen and oxygen, and all other gases are at very low concentrations. For example there are only about 50 molecules of ozone every billion we breathe in. Despite being at very low concentrations it is these gases that are most important to atmospheric chemistry and physics. It´s a bit like someone putting a drop of poison in your tea,…small concentration but big effect !! So a big part of my job is building machines that are sensitive enough to tell us which gases are present in air and how much is out there. Once such a machine is built we use it to explore the world, comparing which gases come out of a Tropical rainforest with those coming out of a big city, like Cardiff for example. One of the great things about my job is the opportunity to travel, and we often find ourselves in peculiar places examining how the atmosphere works there. Last year I found myself operating a gas analyser in a jet aircraft flying low over the Amazon jungle. It was breathtaking to see the green carpet of trees extending for thousands of miles. One machine was installed deep in the rainforest itself, and I had to sleep in a hammock between two trees surrounded by the awesome sounds of the jungle night. This year our attention turned to the ocean and we installed the same machines on a French research ship and crossed the South Atlantic Ocean. The winds were strong in the roaring forties and the waves high but we were rewarded with sights of whales and albatrosses as we worked. Right now I am analysing the measurements we made over the ocean, getting a first look at which gases come out of the ocean and which go in. At the same time I´m dealing with the less glamorous job of German customs forms (very long and detailed) in order to get our machines shipped back from the island of Reunion. Since science is practised the world over, scientists like me can work in many countries. Most science today is reported in English but I can recommend keeping up your other languages, as my French and German came in handy in the end. As a final word, I can only encourage you to go for science; it can lead to a job which genuinely feels like a hobby. I am paid to do something I really enjoy, being curious and finding things out. |
