Podchaser Logo Rate on Podchaser

Episode 23

full
Published on:

4th Jan 2024

Richard King: From Cambridge with Love

Welcome back to a world of People Doing Physics! For this first episode of 2024, let us introduce you to Richard King, the Undergraduate Lab Manager at the Cavendish Laboratory. Richard oversees the practical side of the undergraduate physics course, managing the team that designs, develops, and deploys lecture demos and undergraduate experiments. A former electronic engineer, his background was in circuit design and computing before he joined the Cavendish in 2008.

With Richard, we talk about how Cambridge has changed over the years, what it’s like going from fast-paced industry to the sedate world of the university, the processes involved in setting up practical work for hundreds of undergraduates, and what exactly he was doing wandering around Costa Rica with photographs of old airfields last year.

Useful links

  • To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to the Cavendish website.

Share and join the conversation

  • Help us get better by taking our quick survey! Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you.
  • If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
  • Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at podcast@phy.cam.ac.uk or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

Episode credits

  • Host: Jacob Butler
  • Recording and Editing: Chris Brock


This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for People doing Physics

About the Podcast

People doing Physics
The podcast exploring the personal side of physics
As fascinating as physics can be, it can also seem very abstract, but behind each experiment and discovery stands a real person trying to understand the universe. Join us at the Cavendish Laboratory on the first Thursday of every month as we get up close and personal with the researchers, technicians, students, teachers, and people that are the beating heart of Cambridge University’s Physics department. Each episode also covers the most exciting and up-to-date physics news coming out of our labs. If you want to know what goes on behind the doors of a Physics department, are curious to know how people get into physics, or simply wonder what physicists think and dream about, listen in!
Join us on Twitter @DeptofPhysics using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

About your hosts

Vanessa Bismuth

Profile picture for Vanessa Bismuth
I'm the Cavendish's Communications Manager and I want the world to know about the extraordinary people that are working, researching and studying here.

Jacob Breward Butler

Profile picture for Jacob Breward Butler
Working in the Outreach Office of the Cavendish Laboratory, I run Cambridge University's educational Physics outreach programmes while studying a part-time Masters' in Education.

Charles Walker

Profile picture for Charles Walker
As a researcher at Cavendish Astrophysics and Selwyn College, Cambridge, I help develop and use radio telescopes to learn more about the Universe, and perform outreach to help others learn more about our work, and us!