andyextance

I fuse chemistry and physics – and whatever other elements cross my desk – into words, thanks to a career infused with both fields. I have been a freelance science writer since 2003, working for employers ranging from prestigious scientific media like Nature and New Scientist to companies like Tate and Lyle and Strategy Analytics. My work has been published in many places, including The Guardian, The Atlantic, New Republic and Scientific American. I am a long-standing contributor for Chemistry World and a ‘brain dump expert’ at How It Works magazine. My work has also been published in book form in the Bodyology anthology and will appear in an upcoming book to be published by Dorling Kindersley. I also wrote the bookazine Future Genius: Cool Chemistry. Prior to going independent I was news editor for Compound Semiconductor magazine, when it was owned by Institute of Physics Publishing. Before that, I worked in industrial chemistry, briefly making adhesives after spending six and a half years working at Tripos Discovery Research, an early-stage contract pharmaceutical research company. As my career has progressed, I’ve become more interested in how scientific ideas get recognised and adopted into general use. I come from a working class background, with my father and grandfather both being plumbers. I studied chemistry at the University of Southampton, gaining an MChem in 1999. I’m a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, as well as a Chartered Chemist and Chartered Scientist. In 2014, I set up Exeter Empirical as a platform for all my writing and editorial services. As well as being Exeter Empirical’s director, I have become involved in various organisations that seek to help bring science into society. In 2014, I became an editor for ScienceSeeker, becoming Editor-in-Chief in 2015. I joined the board of the Association of British Science Writers in 2017, of which I have been chair since 2020. I also became a director of Exeter Community Energy in 2018, and served as chair from 2020-2021.