Haw, Mark

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Haw, Mark

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of Edinburgh, research fellow; University of Nottingham, School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Nottingham, England, materials scientist and lecturer.

WRITINGS:

Middle World: The Restless Heart of Matter and Life, Macmillan (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor of articles on physics and chemistry to periodicals, including Nature and Physics World. Has published numerous short stories. Author of the Mark Haw blog.

SIDELIGHTS:

For over a decade, materials scientist Mark Haw has conducted research as a fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham, in England. He has specialized in studying colloids and polymers. A colloid is a type of mixture that appears to be a solution but is actually a mixture of tiny particles or droplets dispersed in a medium. Examples include milk, ink, paint, and glue. A polymer is a substance made of molecules with large molecular masses. Examples include plastics, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), and proteins. Both colloids and polymers are important to modern life, and to life itself, as Haw explained on his Middle World Web site. He has studied and written about a variety of substances that are mesoscopic—between one-hundredth and one-thousandth of a millimeter and are visible when in large groups or singly under a microscope. In Middle World: The Restless Heart of Matter and Life, geared to the general public, Haw describes scientists' gradual understanding of what we now call Brownian motion, that is, the random movement of mesoscopic particles suspended in a fluid or gas. This motion is named for nineteenth-century Scottish botanist Robert Brown, who was studying pollen grains in water under a microscope when he noticed that the pollen grains continually moved with a spastic motion. Although he first thought that the pollen might be alive, Brown later noticed the same kind of motion in the motes of dust that he saw in a bright ray of sunshine. Thus he knew that the movement was not due to the objects' being alive; yet he still was unable to explain the phenomenon. Other scientists considered Brownian motion, but it was only in 1905 that physicist Albert Einstein was able to explain it. While the evolution of thinking about Brownian motion is complicated, Chris Brodie, writing in the American Scientist, praised Haw's "fast-paced, witty, staccato style." Brodie added that Haw "does a particularly good job of helping readers swallow great chunks of chemistry and physics." This readability demonstrates Haw's interest in science journalism and teaching, as do the articles he has written for such magazines as Nature and Physics World. Online, Haw has discussed a wide variety of scientific topics, among them functional MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) used by the "thought police," drag, thermodynamics, societal waste, and methods of teaching science. For enjoyment, Haw has written a number of short stories and several novels.