I have recently been fascinated by Neils Bohr. He would regularly have his students at his home to discuss all manner of subjects: physics, history, philosophy, art, religion etc. The extraordinary atmosphere he created in his team was one of great creativity and openness. It was in this environment, between 1925 and 1927, that the basic foundations of the ‘Copenhagen Interpretation’ - which called into question established concepts of space, time and causality - were developed.

I have a conviction that creating such an environment where researchers are allowed to think, question and explore is vitally important for productive minds.

During the COVID lockdown we had no access to research labs. We did however make our own virtual laboratory. We teamed up with an artist to develop our creative and analytical thinking skills as well as to promote team building ….. no subject is/was off limits. This is an [ongoing] experiment aiming to develop creative/lateral thinking, analysis and interpretation skills that will hopefully benefit my co-workers in their careers. It was also an experiment that was great fun for all to be involved in.

One of the things I ‘do’ is music. I play trumpet, guitar and bass [and am trying to learn the ‘musical saw’]. I’ve played in many different kinds of bands over the years, but more recently in a ‘Blues Brothers’ tribute band [called ‘The Booze Brotherz’] which was great fun. That hasn't been possible for a while, so I have instead turned to writing and recording original tracks with some musicians over the internet. One of my projects is a series of songs telling a true story about someone who ‘suffered’ from ‘face blindness’ [Prosopagnosia].