Site user Phil Hall catches up with Adam Hart Davis, the man who claims to have thrown bricks and parsnips into the Tyne. All in the name of science…

Phil Hall- What thrills can we expect from you during Newcastle's Science Festival?

An example of one of Adam's scientific photos

Adam Hart Davis - I am hoping to amaze the audience with stunning photographs from the Visions of Science photographic awards, and perhaps even with some of my own pictures.

PH - If a picture tells a thousand words, what do you think your scientific photos say?

AHD - I hope they make people go Wow! And then perhaps grasp a scientific idea.

I love taking photographs, and I want mine to be as good as anyone else's. I spend ages working on them. I have spent my whole working life trying to explain and illustrate ideas in science, maths, and technology, and photography is just one way to do this.

PH - What's the most surprising place you think science has happened?

AHD - Science happens in drops of water and bursting balloons…

PH - What have been the highlights of your career so far?

AHD - Dropping tomatoes off the leaning tower of Pisa, and looking down the well on Elephant Island in the Nile, where Eratosthenes measured the size of the Earth in 240 BC.

PH - Tyneside has a rich history of science, industry and innovation. What experiences do you have of the region?

Adam is visiting Newcastle as part of the science festival

AHD - I have been to Newcastle many times, for pleasure, for research, as a TV producer, and as a presenter. It's a great city, and I love the sight of the Tyne and all the bridges. I have operated the swing bridge; I have filmed a scientist dropping bricks off the Tyne Bridge; I have thrown parsnips into the river in honour of Lewis Fry Richardson, and I have loved Turbinia in the Discovery Museum.

PH - I'm curious, why were you dropping bricks off the Tyne Bridge?

AHD - Just as I dropped tomatoes off the leaning tower of Pisa, so we dropped small and big bricks off the Tyne Bridge to see whether big things fall faster than small ones.

PH - Science Shack (a programme that you present) looks like great fun to make. Where do the ideas for the programmes come from?

AHD - The producers, who are extremely bright.

PH - Do you know why your radio and TV programmes, such as Science Shack, appeal to a wide audience?

AHD - I hope they are interesting because they are full of intriguing facts and good stories, and people generally love a good story. Story-telling is as old as the hills, but practised less and less.

PH - Who has been the most influential person in your life?

AHD - The maths teacher who inspired my interest in science. He inspired me to do science, by being an excellent teacher.

PH - If you could have made any scientific discovery, what would it have been?

AHD - Buckminsterfullerene. This was a discovery in pure chemistry that was obvious with hindsight, and very much about the geometry of chemistry, which I have always loved. I don't know whether it is important, but it is beautiful.

PH - Finally, do you have a message for any of the region's budding scientists?

AHD - Yes, be curious.