About

I write about science and technology for adults and children, mainly in books but also online. I try to communicate complicated science in simple and compelling ways.

Over the last 30-odd years, the books I've written, co-written, or contributed to have sold over four million copies, been translated into over 20 languages, and won or been shortlisted for 40-odd international awards, picks, and other things of that kind. My everyday physics book, Atoms under the Floorboards, won The American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for Books, 2016, and was named a Physics World Top 10 Book, 2015. My last book, Breathless, was a hard-hitting look at the global problem of air pollution and was an Independent pick of the month in March 2021.

I studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, specializing in physics and experimental psychology, and was all signed up to do a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience, also at Cambridge. But creative work seemed more appealing than the academic world, so I headed off in that direction instead. Initially, I studied advertising and design with the legendary, iconoclastic creative guru John Gillard at The School of Communication Arts in London in the early 1990s. I became a full-time science writer (and spare-time environmental campaigner) a few years later.

I also run the science education website Explain that Stuff, which has served up over 140 million pages to date (between 2006 and 2023).