Profile

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Graham Shields

My CV

  • Education:

    Saint Boniface’s College catholic comprehensive school in Plymouth (Devon) and studied geology in London (Imperial College) and the ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

  • Qualifications:

    10 O levels ( a bit like GCSEs), 3 A levels (Maths, Physics, Chemistry).

  • Work History:

    While at university, I worked in hotels in Switzerland as a summer job and stayed there to study in Zurich. After graduation, I worked as a researcher and lecturer in Strasbourg (France), Ottawa (Canada), Townsville (Australia), Nanjing (China), Muenster (Germany) before returning to London.

  • Current Job:

    Professor of Geology at UCL in London.

    • About Me:

      I am a geochemist. I look at the evolution of life, climate and the oceans in the past.

    • Read more

      I live in South London with my wife and cocker spaniel called Joey. I like nothing better than running with my dog through the beautiful countryside when I’m not reading or writing about science.My favourite food is Chinese. I like cricket, music and reading. I love to learn about new ideas in science and spend a lot of my time either reading or writing about our planet, now and long ago. Because of my work, I travel a lot to China and around the world.

    • Read more

      My work involves fieldwork to collect rock samples with my trusty geological hammer from around the world. I bring them back to examine under the microscope and carry out various chemical test on them to see what the environment was like in the past. My fieldwork has taken me to Mongolia, China, Australia, the Grand Canyon, the Sahara Desert and even Scotland! Labwork is quite different and you need to wear lots of protective clothing against the acids you need to dissolve the samples.

    • My Typical Day:

      My typical day involves writing about scientific discoveries, either by myself or more likely by my students. That is when I’m not travelling the world doing geology.

    • The CHRISTMAS LECTURE related to my work:

      I work on a period of time, some call ‘Snowball Earth’ when the planet froze over. It is interesting because it was probably the time when Earth was at its coldest ever, and it stayed that way for millions of years. Strangely, animals seem to have evolved around that time, so without Snowball Earth we would not be here.

      Lecture 1 – Engine Earth https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000qpjk/royal-institution-christmas-lectures-2020-planet-earth-a-users-guide-1-engine-earth

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        bookish, curious, open-minded

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        Scientist

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        yes, I don't like being told what to do

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Nina Simone

        What's your favourite food?

        Spicy hot pot

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        make a difference, make a discovery, be satisfied

        Tell us a joke.

        There are 10 types of people in this world: those who get binary numbers, and those who don't

Questions answered by Graham

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