On Friday Science Minister Lord Drayson came to see us at Diamond.
While he was here he took part in a new public engagement project, to sew the world’s largest diffraction pattern.

This was a project I was initially a bit skeptical about. After all, it doesn’t seem to have an awful lot to do with science. But, it seems to be working. People with no interest in science see it as a piece of art, and then we sneakily explain the science. It’s been particularly good with older generation – for example the WI have been involved.

So now Lord Drayson is in the Guardian, talking about a recent survey in which teenagers do not see science as a good career move.
Lord Drayson is a bit of a car nut, so it’s hardly surprising he used Lewis Hamilton and his team of engineers to demonstrate that science and engineering qualifications are A Good Thing, but I’m not sure that it helps. After all, it doesn’t really reflect the process by which one becomes a scientist. Someone inspired by F1 engineers might feel a bit short changed once they go into university.

But what other options are there? I think Diamond is extremely well placed to show teenagers what it can be like to be a scientist. We have a huge shiny toy to look at, that makes it possible for people to see things that have never been seen before – be that new membrane proteins, chemical reactions taking place, or recreating the temperatures and pressures in the Earth’s core. Also our scientists have travelled all over the world, either working at other synchrotrons or shorter trips for beamtime on their own research.

But is that enough? We still can’t promise mega salaries or fame and celebrity, unless of course you become HWMNBN. You might get to meet Alex James or the odd cosmonaut but that’s about it. What can we do to get teenagers as interested in science as sewing diffraction patterns seems to interest the Women’s Institute?