• Question: What is your best ever discovery? And which historical discovery do you think has affected our lives today the most?

    Asked by kristjana to Alan, Deepak, Francesca, Lilly, Nick on 12 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      I think my best ever discovery was working out that the dust (“UFOs”!) falling into the Large Hadron Collider particle beam must be mostly falling from the top of the beam pipe, rather than being attracted from the sides of the beam pipe by the electromagnetic force. It felt cool to do something to help the LHC, even if only in a very small way 🙂

      I think the most important historical discovery was the electron, because without it we wouldn’t have electricity!

    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      My best ever discovery (so far!) was some objects orbiting the Sun further away than the planet Neptune. It helped prove a theory that comets come from a belt of icy objects on the very outskirts of our Solar system.

      I think the most important historical discovery was the printing press. Without that, it was very difficult to make books or newsletters and spread knowledge. After it was invented, then news about all other discoveries could be spread really quickly.

      Which discovery has affected our lives most today? Probably electricity. Can you imagine a world without electricity? I can’t!

    • Photo: Lilian Hunt

      Lilian Hunt answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      I’ve only just started my research so not confirmed any big discoveries yet! But I did feel proud when I discovered a bit of DNA outside of the genes that has a function in the brain (although what exactly we haven’t worked out yet!).

      I’d have to agree with electricity affecting our lives most today but a close second would be Newton working out the laws of gravity as without it we wouldn’t understand the simple things like why stuff falls down!

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      I think my best discovery ever was when I discovered the largest star known and found that it was tearing itself apart as it was dying. It was really exciting and you can read all about it here: https://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/224-news-2013/2347-how-the-largest-star-known-is-tearing-itself-apart

      I think the historical discovery that has affected our lives today the most is probably the discovery of penicillin, because it revolutionised medicine and has save millions of lives.

    • Photo: Deepak Kar

      Deepak Kar answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      I think it is yet to come! Since I work in a big team, cant really take all the credit for a discovery myself ;-). I however did play a part in the discovery of the Higgs boson.

      It is hard to pick out one as the most useful discovery. Electricity, Penicillin are all great answers you have here. I can add probably add the printing press, which is kind of underrated, but without it, we would have no books!

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