Profile
Frank Longford
My CV
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Education:
Newent Community School 2001-08, University of Sussex 2009-13, University of Southampton 2013-
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Qualifications:
MChem, 1st class
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Work History:
I’ve worked in many part-time jobs since I was 14, but the coolest was working in the event catering industry for Delaware North Comapnies, where I used to serve VIPs in the Box section of both Wembely and Emerites stadium.
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Current Job:
PhD Student
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Read more
Water is an amazingly important molecule for all life on Earth; the average human is made up of around 65% water by mass. Essential chemical reactions occur in our cells only in the presence of water and its strange thermodynamic properties keep our planet from drying out. Despite being so important, water is also incredibly simple; it only contains three atoms: 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen (H2O). Therefore the wide range of amazing abilities it possess comes mainly from how every molecule interacts with each other.
This is the general idea behind Complexity Science; how small individual actions add up to a greater whole. You may have heard of the “Butterfly Effect”, where (theoretically) the air disturbance caused by a butterfly flapping its wings in the UK could trigger a sequence of events that leads to a tornado occurring in the USA. In fact we deal with Complexity Science ever day of our lives when we watch the weather forecast on TV. Because weather systems are such complex and chaotic systems, we can only made predictions of what will happen using computer simulations and then report the likelihood of them occurring. For instance, a report may claim that there is a 86% chance of rain tomorrow; this means that 86 out of every 100 computer simulations ran predicted rain for tomorrow.
The beauty of Complexity extends into every realm of science, from ant colonies to the formation of black holes, and is quickly becoming a new and exciting way of thinking about the world we live in.
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My Typical Day:
Coding, meetings, football and piano.
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Read more
Most of my day is spent in our research group’s office, where I have a specially built desktop computer for my work. Being part of two different departments and having three supervisors means that I’m never short of meetings or seminars to attend across my university campus. Sometimes I go to the gym in the morning or play football with my colleagues in the afternoon. In the evening I like to relax with my housemates in our lounge, play my guitar or piano, or work on some side projects like building a website or making little games on the computer.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
LEGO watt balance for schools
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Optimistic, creative, funny.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Sometimes, if I got bored in class.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Radiohead.
What's your favourite food?
Tapas, or basically anything that can be covered in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1) To never have to work in a job that I dont want to do. 2) To be able to work in many places all over the world and 3) to always meet amazing people wherever I go.
Tell us a joke.
And the Lord said unto John “Come forth and thy shall receive eternal life”… But John came fifth, and won a toaster.
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