ABSW member, Dr Sharon Ann Holgate, has won the Institute of Physics 2022 William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize. She won this prize for her work in the following areas:
- Communicating science to a wide variety of audiences
- Positive representations of scientists from non-traditional backgrounds
Sharon is a science writer and broadcaster, spanning all areas of public engagement but particularly effective in engaging children. Disabled herself, she has shown how people from non-traditional backgrounds contribute to physics and science in general. She has worked inside academia via science communication training (Rhodes University, Imperial College London and King’s College London) and is one of the few non-academics to write an undergraduate textbook, Understanding Solid State Physics, using her expertise to create a book that is used around the world, now in a second edition with multimedia support. A great strength is her ability to make difficult ideas accessible.
Dr Holgate's thoughts on winning the award:
"This award means a great deal to me, not least as due to my physical disability I have faced many obstacles to progressing my career. I am hoping my award win can encourage other people, no matter what their background is or what challenges they face, to pursue a career in their chosen sector of science. In my case, it is actually my disability that is responsible for me becoming a science writer. I had three operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital as a child, and because I loved science I was encouraged by the GOSH teachers to write my first science articles for the patient newspaper,” says Sharon Ann.
I was absolutely terrified before my last operation, and unable to sleep. So I spent the night writing articles about Newton's cradle, and Leonardo da Vinci's experiments and inventions. I got so absorbed in writing them that when the day shift nurses came on duty at 5 am, they found me sitting at my bed with paper and books strewn all over it! Not wanting to miss my deadline, I sent them away again so I could hastily finish off my pieces before they took me down to the operating theatre. Little did I realise at the time that 40 years later I would still be chasing deadlines and getting just as engrossed in the science I am describing".
Congratulations from ABSW Chair, Andy Extance:
It's wonderful to see the hard work of a long-standing ABSW member like Sharon Ann recognised in this way. She sets a great example in winning the William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize, for work including coverage of scientists who are disabled or from disadvantaged groups and making physics accessible to children.
