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This is William Perkin, one of many old-time scientists who had a beard.

He lived from 1838 to 1907 and is perhaps best-known for discovering the dye mauveine.

He patented the discovery and, because purple was a colour in demand, Perkin became rich.

In our latest periodic video about crystallization, we discuss Perkin's beard.

The Professor suggests that substantial beard may have been a secret weapon in Perkin's success as a chemist!

Find out why...

Something a bit different from Backstage Science.

I invited solar expert Chris Davis to choose his 10 favourite images (video or photo) of our local star.

They include a mixture of old and new, and a few from the mission he works on called STEREO.

Here's the video:

Professor Poliakoff from The Periodic Table of Videos received this little trinket from a colleague this week!


I've since read about it on the Lego website...

It's called "Crazy Scientist".

Its description says:

"Ah hah hah hah! They called me mad at the university...and they were right!"

The Crazy Scientist really loves mad science. He's got all the right equipment: a spooky old laboratory, shelves of beakers and tubes full of bubbling liquids, and even one of those antenna things with the little bolts of lightning that go up and down. He's still looking for just the right creepy assistant, but he's sure that one will answer his ad soon.

Not a typical day today... I was at Nottingham Crown Court.

It was for the sentencing of a woman who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving after crashing into a cyclist.

The victim was Donal McNally - himself a crash expert and someone I regularly feature in films on Test Tube.



Donal was cycling home in the evening of May 21 last year when he was struck down.

The driver left the scene and Donal was later found by passing motorists.

He was on bad shape and they initially thought he was "a large dog" on the road, the court heard today.

Donal had broken his neck in three places and suffered a burst fracture in his lower back.

The experts - including Donal himself - said he was very lucky to survive.

And what a twist of fate that a leading expert on crashes - and spinal injures - should find himself in such a predicament.

I filmed an interview with Donal a few weeks ago, but we couldn't upload it until the legal proceedings were finished.

Today the driver, a 28-year-old woman, was sentenced by a judge.

She was disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to perform 150 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community.

There were no charges relating to leaving the crash scene. An expert psychologist reported that she had a "genuine memory loss" of the incident and didn't know she had struck a cyclist.

The judge said he accepted this report.

As for Donal... well, the incident has strengthened his resolve to campaign about the importance of bicycle helmets.

He insists the helmet he was wearing (and which split in two places) is what saved his life.

In addition to the video above, we plan to post another video soon about the modeling his injuries and discussing safety in general.

So watch this space.

Another viewer has done a portrait of our very own Professor Martyn Poliakoff - emerging YouTube superstar?

This one comes from Ellen Hong (aka @Sonnet_72)

When I asked to re-produce the picture, Sonnet said: "Sure, why not! I love your videos n' all staff members, especially respect him so much!"

I've posted a bigger version of Flickr.

And here are some earlier portaits of The Professor, also by viewers.



Read more about them at this link and this link.

Our thanks to an eagle-eared listener who heard our Creme Egg Easter video being discussed on the radio in San Francisco.

Click here to listen.

Always love how our American friends pronounce Notting-HAM in England!

Here's the video they were talking about, complete with Professor Poliakoff's hair.

Today I uploaded a second video about a student project at the University of Nottingham.

Three engineering students were tasked with building a roof rack which could be used by one person using a tandem bicycle.

I should emphasise it is a "student project" as part of their degree - they're not taking this to market. It was filmed for Test Tube.

Here's the latest video, in which the rack is tested on a crash track.



And here is the previous video when the rack was first fitted to a car.