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Suzie Sheehy - Five Way Interview

Dr Suzy Sheehy is a physicist, science communicator and academic who divides her time between research groups at the University of Oxford and University of Melbourne. She is currently focused on developing new particle accelerators for applications in medicine. The Matter of Everything is her first book.

Why physics?


For me, one of the reasons I love physics is because it allows us to go deep into awe-inspiring and almost philosophical aspects of nature, yet is also inherently practical. By understanding and doing research in physics we are always expanding the knowledge of our species, giving us new perspectives on our world and on our place in it. But I also think physics is amazing because this knowledge can be used to improve our lives in myriad ways, from electronics, to cultural heritage and of course in medicine.

Why this book?

If you’ve ever read about physics discoveries and wondered 'but how do we know that?' this book will finally help you understand. It tells the human stories and puts the reader in the shoes of experimental physicists as they go about their work of (not to be too grand about it) uncovering the nature of reality. It also takes the reader beyond this, zooming out to answer the 'so what?' questions as well, highlighting the ways we have used all this knowledge in surprisingly practical ways.

Why are theorists better known to the public than experimentalists?

I can see three main reasons for this. First up, many folks don’t realise there are different types of physicists at all and assume we are alike and perhaps a little like Einstein. Second, we are story-driven people and pop culture is all about narrative: yet it’s harder to build narratives around experimental scientists because there are more of them. Today experimentalists often work together in collaborations of hundreds or thousands where the lead person is elected as a spokesperson, and often shy away from highlighting individual characters. Finally, pragmatically, in my experience theorists tend to write (almost) all the books on physics because they aren’t constrained by the day to day demands of running a lab. They definitely have a more writing-friendly working style than the experimentalists.

What’s next?

In particle physics it feels like research is reaching a new era: compelling theories that go beyond the so-called ‘Standard Model’ don’t yet seem to be supported by the data from the Large Hadron Collider. They may get a (nice) surprise after collecting more data… or they may need to shift their thinking and take a more experiment-led approach, reappraising the ‘knowledge gaps’ with an open mind. In this realm, physicists will need to investigate further into things we have discovered but not fully understood, like Higgs bosons and neutrinos, but also try to do experiments to understand or find things like dark matter. Meanwhile, I remain hopeful that our theorist colleagues might come up with new – perhaps even revolutionary – ideas.

What’s exciting you at the moment?

I’m mostly excited that my new lab – called the X-LAB for compact particle accelerators – is getting up and running as I write this (yes… I should be in the lab helping, but I’m here writing this… see what I mean about theorists vs experimentalists!?). I’m very much looking forward to the potential our new lab holds for research and innovation. Fairly early in my research career I took a step back from the fundamental physics, instead choosing to work on accelerator technologies and their societal applications – particularly their potential to revolutionise cancer treatment. It’s important work that merges my love of both the philosophical and practical nature of physics.

Image © Alice Black 2022


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