Meet Manchester’s most inspiring alumni

Departments Heritage UOM life 17 September 2018

When it comes to science and engineering, Manchester has an illustrious heritage. If you’ve joined the Faculty of Science and Engineering this week, read on to see in whose illustrious footsteps you’re following.

Dr Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo

Burkina Faso’s Minister for Energy completed his PhD here at The University of Manchester, and he hopes that his ties with the University will now help his country.

Dr Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo won a scholarship from the University’s Sustainable Consumption Institute, which enabled him to complete his PhD on the impact of climate change, renewable energy and population impact on the future energy demand of Burkina Faso’s built environment back in 2012. He returned to Manchester for a visit this summer, to discuss how the research carried out here can help him in his aim to improve access to energy for the people of his country.

The Minister counts his push to introduce more solar energy in both urban and rural areas of Burkina Faso as one of his main achievements during his time in the post.

“I know we can’t reinvent the world. You have to be focused on what you can do and continue doing that and look to find ways to improve standards of living and get people out of poverty. With the quality of education provided at The University of Manchester, and the quality of the teaching, the rest will follow,” Dr Ouédraogo told us on his recent visit.

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Dr Julia Tizard

Do you know exactly what you want to do after graduation? Don’t worry if you don’t – very few of us did. But one of our Alumni who did is Dr Julia Tizard.

Dr Tizard studied for her Degree in Astrophysics, her Master’s AND her PhD here at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. But make no mistake – this is not someone who wanted to stay in Manchester forever. Dr Tizard is now the Vice President of Virgin Galactic. So if you ever get a ticket on a commercial flight into space, you may well have her to thank.

It was 14 years ago, when completing her PhD, that Julia’s life changed. She had travelled to the Mojave Desert in California, where she witnessed the experimental rocket-powered aircraft SpaceShipOne win the coveted Ansari X Prize. The aircraft’s manufacturer, Scaled Composites, went on to join forces with Richard Branson and Virgin, and form The Spaceship Company – part of Virgin Galactic. From that point on, Dr Tizard knew she wanted to be part of the commercial space race.

Julia credits The University of Manchester with her ability to think critically. “It’s a skill which you can apply in almost any area. Here you study; you work hypotheses; you solve equations; you learn and use the language of maths to describe the world. Taking that out into industry, I use that exact same tool to really base a lot of my risk decisions,” she explains.

Of her time here at university, Julia concludes: “The richness of everything that Manchester has to offer is mostly in its diversity.”

Prof Brian Cox

We couldn’t write this and not include the Big C, could we? One of the Faculty’s most famous graduates, Professor Brian Cox is credited with reigniting the UK’s love of Physics – it’s called the Brian Cox Effect, don’t you know?

Since bidding farewell to his pop career, Prof Cox has become one of the most recognisable faces in broadcasting. And it all started here at The University of Manchester. He studied his Degree and Master’s Degree in Physics here, before completing his PhD in high-energy particle physics.

Following his graduation, Professor Cox worked on the ATLAS Experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, which was one of the experiments that led to the discovery of the Higgs boson. His work and passion for science has not only resulted in exciting discoveries, but has also inspired a whole new generation to keep asking questions about the universe.

Leena Gade

Leena Gade studied her Master’s in Aerospace Engineering at The University of Manchester – but it turned out her true passion was for vehicles a little closer to the ground. As the only woman to graduate from her class, she continued the trend when she became the first female engineer to win at 24 Hours of Le Mans, back in 2011.

In fact, Leena has won this prestigious race twice – picking up the same prize in 2012. That same year, she was named ‘Man of the Year’ (no, that’s not a typo) at the FIA World Endurance Championships, and also took home the C&R Racing Woman in Technology Award.

It’s no wonder that Leena has been both an ambassador for the FIA Commission for Women in Motorsport and a Formula Student Ambassador.

James Joule

Game-changing physicist AND brewer – it’s no wonder James Joule is a Manchester hero. The mathematician and physicist gave his name to Joule’s first law – the relationship between the electric current through resistance and the heat dissipated – and he no doubt brewed a mean beer too. In fact, science was simply a hobby to him – no pressure to all our new science students, then.

It was while managing his family’s brewery that Joule decided to experiment by replacing the steam engines with electric motors. He wrote about his findings, which he then contributed to inventor of electromagnets William Sturgeon’s Annals of Electricity.

However, in spite of his scientific breakthroughs, Joule did not receive the respect he craved from the Royal Society. Instead, he began to mingle with the intellectuals of Manchester’s burgeoning science scene.

Without Joule, we wouldn’t have the first law of thermodynamics, of which his work was instrumental in helping to create. So it’s only right that we raise a glass to the great man.

You can read about five more of our famous alumni here.

Word – Hayley Cox

Images – The University of Manchester

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