Tanniemola Liverpool | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Cologne University of Bristol |
Tanniemola Liverpool (born 20 April 1971) is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Bristol.
Liverpool was born in London to parents from Sierra Leone.[1] His father, Lennox Liverpool, also has a PhD in Mathematics and taught at the University of Jos.[2] He went to school at the Liverpool Blue Coat School.[3] He studied physics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating in 1991.[1] He completed his doctoral studies, "A Stochastic Approach to Describing Geological Systems" at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Sam Edwards in 1995.[1] Whilst at Cambridge he was part of a Group to Encourage Ethnic Minority Applicants.[3]
Liverpool studies the role of hydrodynamic interactions in the collective behaviour of particles in a fluid.[4] He observed that swimming bacteria, algae and spermatozoa could be described as "living liquid crystals".[5] By understanding the movement of artificial 'swimmers' in soft matter, he hopes to design new cancer treatments.[6]
After his PhD, Liverpool joined University of Cologne as a postdoctoral researcher.[7] Liverpool was awarded a Royal Society Research Fellowship in 2000.[8] He joined the University of Leeds, working in the Applied Mathematics group.[9]
Liverpool works at the University of Bristol in the Centre for Synthetic Biology.[10] He studies the self-assembly of protein building blocks.[11] He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Theoretical Biology.[12] He is the chair of the Institute of Physics Liquid and Complex Physics group.[13]
He is part of several initiatives to improve diversity within the physics and mathematics communities.[14][15][16][17] He was selected as one of several outstanding scientists to be featured in the book "Science, Not Art: Ten Scientists' Diaries".[18]