The Professor's new job

Professor Martyn Poliakoff has had exciting news.

He has been nominated to become the next Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society.

In-keeping with tradition, The Professor is the only nominee (so should be elected without fuss).

To the layman this may not seem impressive.

But The Royal Society is one of the world's most prestigious scientific academies.

And Foreign Secretary is one of its top positions, with a remit to build relationships around the world.

It's a part-time role, but The Professor can expect to be extremely busy and will doubtless be racking up many air miles!

The University of Nottingham has agreed to lighten his load in terms of research and teaching.

But don't worry, The Professor has already vowed that The Periodic Table of Videos won't suffer.

I asked him about it in this video, which explains the society and his new role within it:



And here is some extra interview footage:

The Professor's Paper for Free

Last week we posted a video about The Professor's own research in the field of automatic chemistry (see video below).

Since then a number of people have been frustrated trying to read the article in "Angewandte Chemie" because it is available only by subscription.

Well, we're pleased to say the publishers have agreed to make the paper free until May 31, 2011.

Looks like they want to make sure all the YouTubers out there are fully informed!

Here's the link to download the paper (but be warned it is quite technical):

Self-Optimizing Continuous Reactions in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

And here's the video: