Margaret Ebunoluwa Aderin
Aderin-Pocock has worked on many projects in private industry, academia, and in the Government. From 1996 to 1999 she worked at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, a branch of the UK Ministry of Defence. Initially, she worked as a systems scientist on aircraft missile warning systems, and from 1997 to 1999 she was a project manager developing hand-held instruments to detect landmines. In 1999, Aderin-Pocock returned to Imperial College on a fellowship from the Science and Technology Facilities Council to work with the group developing a high resolution spectrograph for the Gemini telescope in Chile. The telescope examines and analyses starlight to improve understanding of distant stars.
1968
Islington , London
Nigerian
She is an honorary research associate of University College London’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. Since February 2014, she has co-presented the long-running astronomy television programme The Sky at Night with Chris Lintott. In 2020 she was awarded the Institute of Physics. William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize for her public engagement in physics. She is the first African woman to win a gold medal in the Physics News Award. She has also earned the title of President-elect of the British Science Association
2005 — Awarded Certificate of Excellence by the Champions Club UK
2006 – Aderin-Pocock has served as a research fellow at UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies, supported by a Science in Society fellowship 2010–2013 funded by Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). She previously held two other fellowships related to science communication, including science and society fellowships 2006–08 Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and 2008–10 (STFC)
2006 – she was one of six Women of Outstanding Achievement winners with GetSET Women.
Aderin-Pocock was appointed an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to science education. She also was awarded an honorary doctorate from Staffordshire University in 2009 for contributions to the field of science education
2011 — Winner of the New Talent award from the WFTV (Women in Film and Television)
2012 — UK Powerlist, listed as one of the UK top 100 most influential Black people
2013 — UK Power List, listed as one of the UK top 10 most influential Black people
2013 — Yale University Centre for Dyslexia Out of the box thinking award
2014 — Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Bath
2016 — Powerlist Ranked sixth most influential Black Briton
2017 — Honorary Doctor of Science, Loughborough University
2018 — Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Leicester
2020 — Institute of Physics William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize for her public engagement in physics
In 2020–21 she served as a Commissioner on the UK Government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED). The Commission’s controversial report concluded that the claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence, but experts complained that the report misrepresented evidence, and that recommendations from business leaders were ignored. After the report was published, Aderin-Pocock stated that it “was not denying institutional racism existed but said the commission had not discovered evidence of it in the areas it had looked”.
Since December 2021, Aderin-Pocock has been a question-setter for the Channel 4 game show I Literally Just Told You
She was raised in Camden, London and attended La Sainte Union Convent School in North London. She has dyslexia and, as a child, when she told a teacher she wanted to be an astronaut, it was suggested she try nursing and told that was because that’s scientific, too. She gained four A-Levels in maths, physics, chemistry, and biology.
She studied at Imperial College London, graduated with a BSc in physics in 1990, and completed her PhD in mechanical engineering under the supervision of Hugh Spikes in 1994. Her research investigated the development of an ultra-thin film measurement system using spectroscopy and interferometry to the 2.5 nm level. This involved improving the optical performance and the mechanical design of the system, as well as the development of control and image processing software. Other techniques at the time could only operate to the micron level with much poorer resolution. This development work resulted in the instrument being sold by an Imperial College University spin-off company, PCS Instruments.
She was the lead scientist at Astrium, where she managed observation instruments on a satellite, measuring wind speeds to help the investigation of climate change. She is working on and managing the observation instruments for the Aeolus satellite, which will measure wind speeds to help the investigation of climate change. She is also a pioneering figure in communicating science to the public, specifically school children, and also runs her own company, Science Innovation Ltd, which engages children and adults all over the world with the wonders of space science.
Aderin-Pocock is committed to inspiring new generations of astronauts, engineers, and scientists and she has spoken to approximately 25,000 children, many of them at inner-city schools, telling them how and why she became a scientist, busting myths about careers, class, and gender. Through this Aderin-Pocock conducts Tours of the Universe, which she set up to engage children and adults around the world in the wonders of space. She also helps encourage scientific endeavours of young people by being a celebrity judge at the National Science + Engineering Competition. The finals of this competition are held at The Big Bang Fair in March each year to reward young people who have achieved excellence in a science, technology, engineering, or maths project.
Aderin-Pocock was the scientific consultant for the 2009 mini-series Paradox, and also appeared on Doctor Who Confidential In February 2011 she presented Do We Really Need the Moon? on BBC Two. She also presented In Orbit: How Satellites Rule Our World on BBC Two on 26 March 2012.
As well as presenting The Sky at Night with Chris Lintott, Aderin-Pocock has presented Stargazing on CBeebies with Chris Jarvis, and Out of This World on CBBC with her daughter Lauren. She has also appeared on Would I Lie to You?, Dara O Briain’s Go 8 Bit, Richard Osman’s House of Games, and QI.
Parents – Caroline Philips and Justus Adebayo Aderin
Spouse – Martin Pocock
Child – Lauren
http://www.quotabelle.com/author/maggie-aderin-pocock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Aderin-Pocock
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mechanical-engineering/people/meet-our-alumni/dr-maggie-aderin-pocock/
https://www.vitae.ac.uk/researcher-careers/researcher-career-stories/list-of-vitae-career-stories-on-film/maggie-aderin-pocock
https://www.iafastro.org/biographie/maggie-aderin-pocock.html
Credits (where info sourced from)
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