Until July 2020, Vitali Vitaliev was Features Editor at Engineering and Technology Magazine, a role he held for nearly 14 years. I knew his name from reading his work regularly in The Guardian, but it was through my friend and colleague Dea Birkett that I met him and began writing periodically for the magazine. I…
Category: BOOKS
Cold war, hot science: investigating the discovery of super-heavy elements, and visiting Russia, for the Royal Society’s essay collection on scientific collaborations
In September 2017 I responded to a call for proposals sent out by Jon Turney, a science writer I knew by glowing reputation if not in person. He was commissioning a book of essays exploring scientific collaborations for the Royal Society, and I thought maybe I had a candidate. While working on my book Cracking the…
My interview with Tom Karen, designer of the Marble Run, Chopper bike and other classics, for Engineering and Technology Magazine
From the classic Chopper bike and the Marble Run toy to the quirky three-wheel sports car called the Bond Bug, there’s something playful about all Tom Karen’s work as an industrial designer. For 37 years, he headed up Ogle Design, steering it to become the country’s leading independent design house for transport and products. Now…