I grew up in Newquay, on the Atlantic coast and there developed a love of the sea and boats.

Thus I was able to make pioneering measurements of the height and physical scale of plasma clouds in the ionosphere and also to estimate wind speeds in this region.

Teaching physics at the University, and more general lecturing to wider audiences has been a major concern.

My first research was concerned with propagation of radiation through inhomogeneous transparent media and this has remained a lifelong interest.

I was educated at King's College, Taunton and went to the University of Cambridge in 1942.

I believe scientists have a duty to share the excitement and pleasure of their work with the general public, and I enjoy the challenge of presenting difficult ideas in an understandable way.