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Episode 4

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Published on:

5th May 2022

Tom Sharp

This month our guest is Tom Sharp, group technician for the Optoelectronics research group here at the Department of Physics, where his day to day involves working closely with scientists to maintain and troubleshoot equipment and ensure a smooth running of the laboratories and facilities.

Tom was always drawn to mechanical work growing up, and joined the Cavendish through an apprenticeship 10 years ago. In that time his role has changed, evolving from working in the mechanical workshop to being in charge of producing and maintaining a whole group’s equipment.

As someone who has to solve problems on a daily basis, Tom works with the mindset that you can’t get brought down with failures - sometimes your first solution won’t work as you hoped, but it’s all about learning, improving and adapting to new situations and challenges. 

But how does one learn to work in such a fast-paced and unpredictable environment? And what’s it like to work so closely with researchers and play a crucial part in setting up the experiments that lead to ground-breaking discoveries? Stay tuned as we ask Tom all about this and more… 

A bit of jargon busting:

OE: Optoelectronics

SP: Semiconductor Physics

ME: Microelectronics

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Jump into the conversation:

[00:33] - Guests intro

[12:18] – In the news this month: Meet June Broomhead (Lindsey), the woman who contributed to the discovery of DNA's double-helix

[38:58] - Outro

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Episode credits:

Hosts: Simone Eizagirre Barker and Jacob Butler

News presenters: Vanessa Bismuth and Paolo Molignini

Producer: Chris Brock



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

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
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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

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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

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Working in the Outreach Office of the Cavendish Laboratory, I run Cambridge University Physics' educational outreach programmes, helping young people from around the UK to see physics as a worthwhile endeavour.

Charles Walker

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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!