“I was always super-impressed by her,” Jacqui says. “She discovered radium, undertook pioneering work in radioactivity and so many other things. She was married to Pierre Curie, who was also a scientist. There was all that interplay, who’s going to get the credit for things? She was finally recognised by the Royal Society, and became the only person to win a Nobel prize in two scientific fields. She died, it’s thought, because of the radioactivity. In a way she was like a saint, who died for their cause.”
What advice would Jacqui give to a woman starting out in science? “Approach it with an open mind, and don’t read too much into things,” she says. “It’s easy to feel threatened by the concept that you’re in a minority, but try to believe that the majority of men are on your side. Some of my strongest supporters have been men.”
Design-to-device pipeline: a conveyor belt for materials discovery
Jacqui began her Clifford Paterson Lecture talking about another historic scientist, Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin by chance in 1928. Nearly 100 years on, Jacqui doesn’t believe chance is the most strategic way to make discoveries.
“Chance is great if it yields results, but given my own data and logic training, I was keen to find a systematic way of working,” she says. “My design-to-device pipeline is about how AI, algorithms and data science combine to discover new materials for the energy sector. It’s a kind of ‘molecular lego’ – you put the bits together in a certain way to get a different object. Design the molecule you want for your ultimate goal.”
Jacqui is focused on sustainable energy, something she began working on in the early 2000s, long before the energy situation became critical.
Star struck
Looking back, Jacqui can see that she always wanted to be an innovator. “Becoming an inventor is a very primal kind of childlike ideology, and I still have a childlike take on things. I’m always looking into new things – I’m curious, I like puzzles. Give me an excuse and I’ll still play with Lego.”
History is another enduring passion. “My favourite periods are the French Revolutions,” she says. “Very bloody, but these eras have a weird translation to my innovative ways. These are huge turning points in a nation’s history, a chance to see a new world. Can you break through and make it better?”
Recreation wise, hiking and climbing keep Jacqui’s feet on the ground, while astronomy keeps her head in the stars. “On a clear night, camping in the mountains, I love seeing stars down to the horizon,” she says. “Climbers negotiate with the natural power of the mountains and their microclimate weather. The universe reminds us how tiny and insignificant we all are.
“I’ve seen so many great things. I’ve climbed an ice mountain in Patagonia. I’ve hiked up many volcanoes, one when it just happened to erupt! Hiking and climbing give me space to explore – that’s when your best ideas come. Contemplate nothing and ideas will pop into your head. Just free your mind.”