Profile
Charles Thomas
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About Me:
I am a physicist in London and when I’m not doing physics I’m often found reading or listening to music.
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Outside of my work, I really enjoy reading – in particular I read a lot of fantasy books or crime books. I’m also a big fan of music especially rock and I love to go to gigs when I get the chance. Oh and I also really love animals!
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My pronouns are:
he/him
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How I use Maths in my work:
Physics is all about how things change with time. This means its deeply connected with a bit of maths called Calculus (you might have studied it a bit at A-Level). A lot of what I do involves doing calculus in strange settings.
I also worry about a lot about geometry (the study of shapes) since one of the things we learnt from Einstein is that gravity and geometry are deeply linked.
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My Work:
We know how to do quantum physics on earth but I want to know how to do it near black holes
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Gravity curves space (it’s a weird idea I know). When gravity curves space lots (which happens close to black holes or in the very early universe) lots of the techniques we have for doing quantum physics on earth no longer work. I am trying to fix that!
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My Typical Day:
I wake up at 6am and go the gym. Then I go to my office (which is right next to the gym) and work until about 5pm (with several breaks for food and chatting to friends) then I go home.
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In terms of what I do for work, I spend a lot of it reading papers and being confused by them. I often end up writing stuff on a whiteboard trying to understand some new maths.
Several times a week, we’ll have seminars where other researchers come in and tell us about their work so I also go to those quite a lot.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Kids are really smart! They’re much smarter than they (or often adults) think. So I want to run a summer school to teach kids quantum physics properly
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Education:
I did my GCSEs at Shipston High School (it was the closest school to me). Then I did my A-Levels at Chipping Campden School (again, it was the closet school to me that did A Levels).
Then I spent a year working before deciding to go to Durham University to study Maths and Philosophy.
In my first year of university, I went on a side quest which invovled starting a company which led to me taking a year off from university.
Finally, I returned to Durham to finish my degree. I then when to Oxford University for. year to do my master’s degree in Theoretical Physics before starting my PhD in Mathematics at Queen Mary’s University of London.
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Qualifications:
GCSES: Maths, English literature, English language, Core Science, Additional Science, Further Additional Science, Computer Science, History, Geography and RE
A Levels: Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Computer Science and RE
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Work History:
I worked part time at Monzo doing customer support work when I was in high school. Then I worked as a software engineer for Monzo for a year after I left school.
Then I was the CTO of Onfolk (the company I founded while at university)
Finally, these days I do some tutoring.
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Current Job:
PhD Student
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Employer:
Queen Mary’s University of London
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
perpetually confused physicist
What did you want to be after you left school?
I had no idea
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Rarely
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Something in education or politics
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Rolling Stones
What's your favourite food?
Paella
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I wish I could play guitar, I wish I could speak Spanish, I wish I had a pet
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