Maggie Aderin-Pocock
| Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
9 March 1968 Islington, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields |
Space science Science communication |
| Institutions | University College London |
| Alma mater | Imperial College London, BSc, PhD |
| Thesis | Interferometric Studies of Very Thin Lubricant Films in Concentrated Contacts (1995) |
| Known for | Presenter on Sky at Night, science educator |
| Notable awards |
MBE 2009 Honorary degree, Staffordshire University 2009 Honorary Fellow, British Science Association 2010 Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Bath 2014 |
| Spouse | Dr Martin Pocock |
| Children | 1 daughter, Lauren (born 2010) |
Margaret Ebunoluwa "Maggie" Aderin-Pocock, MBE (born 9 March 1968) is an English space scientist and science educator. She is an Honorary Research Associate in University College London's Department of Physics and Astronomy. Since February 2014, she has co-presented the long-running astronomy TV programme The Sky at Night with Chris Lintott.
Aderin-Pocock was born in London on 9 March 1968 to Caroline Philips and Justus Adebayo Aderin. Her name "Ebunoluwa" stems from the Yoruba words "Ebun" meaning "gift" and Oluwa meaning "God", which is also a variant form of the word "Oluwabunmi" or "Olubunmi" meaning "gift of God" in Yoruba. She 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, "because that's scientific, too". She gained four A-Levels in maths, physics, chemistry and biology.
She studied at Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc in physics in 1990 and completed her PhD in mechanical engineering in 1994. Her thesis titled "Interferometric Studies of Very Thin Lubricant Films in Concentrated Contacts" was accepted in 1995. Her research involved 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 spin-off company.
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