When I was at Manchester University in the very early 1980s I lived with a couple of Physicists who were studying for doctorates.
As someone who was studying for a degree that involved the need to understand principles of mathematics so that I could carry out calculations to achieve solutions to engineering problems their advice was always useful when I got stuck.
I will never forget the excitement exhibited when a package arrived at the house and which contained a Sinclair ZX Spectrum which was an 8 bit computer that would allow colour display through the television which was a rented model allowing colour; something of a luxury when most students opted for the cheaper black and white.
In all honesty I considered their excitement a bit peculiar and wondered why they needed a computer to play games at home.
What I didn't realise then, but do now, is that computing is as vital to the work of a Physicist as the equipment used in laboratories.
And as we all now know, revolutionary though the Sinclair ZX was back in 1982 when it was launched, it is now considered laughably weedy in computing power when compared to what we now use as standard and which have phenomenal memory and processing power.
A USB memory stick is more powerful than the computer which out the Apollo astronauts on the moon.
But, as we know, computers are, regardless of their complexity and incredible power in carrying out calculations, simply made up of a configuration of components (circuits and microprocessors) which will allow rapid repetitive operations.
What makes a computer so effective is the human who creates the configuration and, more crucially, the programme that it will use ('run').
And this is what I am interested in; the ability of those working in scientific departments such as found in Physics to use their creativity and imagination to do things that, at present, we can only dream of.
Many of the projects now being undertaken in universities across the world will shape the future world in ways such as the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989 by British Physicist Tim Berners-Lee whilst working on nuclear research at CERN to share information between other scientists and universities.
In recent months I have had the privilege to see visit a number of such departments and attend talks provided by the Department of Physics at The University of Birmingham..
What I have seen and hear provides ample evidence that those working in these departments are engaged in research which may become incredibly significant in the future.
For example, as well as the research to better understand the solar system and universe, there is the research into nano which is used as the prefix meaning a billionth and considers the effective atomic and molecular structure of everything that exists.
One machine I recently saw, a semiconductor, has the ability to make things literally from atomic level. This will allow us to make materials that will perform in ways that previous generations could only have imagined in science fiction.
One of the products that is already exists is graphene which, as the name implies, is made from carbon and is as light as it is strong and will effectively conduct heat and electricity. Its potential use in the will enable solutions as wide as biological engineering and be used within our bodies, in providing more flexible screens for viewing images, optical electronics, incredibly effective photovoltaic cells and batteries and in composite materials.
Remember how carbon fibre has transformed safety in Formula One Racing.
Something which is utterly amazing about graphene is that though water can pass through it, it is impervious to other liquids and gases (its due to the fact that it is only one atom thick) and could possibly be used in water filtration systems that are far more economic than those which exist at present.
Given that water is the most precious commodity we possess on planet earth the ability to create more fresh water from, for example, the sea would be extremely beneficial to future generations.
The recent floods - or should that be rising river levels - have raised the question of whether this is simply a short-term glitch in the weather system or a more long-term effect of global warming caused by our relentless burning of fossil fuels.
Once again we are turning to nuclear energy though as someone who grew up in the 1960s will recall, there is a fear as to what happens if this source goes spectacularly wrong (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima being three high profile examples of nuclear disaster).
There is, however, a source of power through what is known as nuclear fusion that may potentially create conditions similar to those found in the sun as a way to harness power through fusing atomic nuclei which, though difficult to achieve practically yet, would enable us to enjoy energy that has no carbon emissions and minimal other waste.
Just down the road from Birmingham at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxford precisely such experiments are being conducted and at one talk I attended recently, it was explained that they had managed to, momentarily, achieve a temperature ten times that found on the sun.
If this form of energy works the benefits to society would be profound. One of the curses that we all have unfortunate experience of is cancer.
Whilst some forms are being reduced by different lifestyles the incidence of many others are increasing due to the simple fact that as we become a more aged society we become more prone to cancer.
The use of radiology to treat cancer has been around for quite some time; as had the use of chemotherapy.
Birmingham University School of Physics and Astronomy is carrying out research with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to use proton and ion radiotherapy which is far more precise in eradicating cancer cells and, though the equipment is expensive in capital terms is more cost effective in the long-term.
For those of us of a certain age this is of great comfort; especially if you have seen a loved one die of cancer.
Back in the early 1980s my housemates studying for their doctorates never invited me to attend any lectures in the Physics department.
The idea would have seemed ridiculous though I did attend a couple of postgraduate events which always seemed pretty dull when compared to what was offered a short distance away in Manchester City Centre.
So it with great amusement that I can report that when celebrity Physicist Professor Brian Cox gives lectures at Manchester University additional security is provided to ensure that only invited students can obtain entrance.
The standing of Physics has come on a long way and we have much to be grateful to the likes of Brian Cox for making the subject so attractive to the current generation.
Let's hope that they continue the enthusiastic tradition of ingenuity and creativity that has so influenced current technology.
Finally I'd like to report that the last I know of one of my housemates from Manchester was that after a stint at CERN is based in Marseilles hunting the 'ghostly' neutrinos that permeate our universe but barely interact with this planet.
Like the hunt for the Higgs boson particle, this will assist in better understanding of how the universe was created it is estimated, some 13.798 billion years ago.
Esoteric though such knowledge may currently seem, its acquisition will help in creating radical solutions in the future that will be as commonplace as computers, television and the mobile phone are today.
