• Question: have you met anyone famous from working for your job

    Asked by imSoAmazing on 5 Jun 2025. This question was also asked by them519grow.
    • Photo: Victoria Cox

      Victoria Cox answered on 5 Jun 2025:

      That’s a fun question! I work in public health and have met a few politicians and doctors who have been in the news. But some of my colleagues met and worked with David Beckham last year on the Zero Malaria campaign which bought together scientists and advocates (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/257893/david-beckham-joins-scientists-video-launched/). Another colleague who does a lot of science communication has worked with Prof Brian Cox to make educational videos which was a really cool experience for them.

    • Photo: Kevin Burke

      Kevin Burke answered on 5 Jun 2025:

      Yes, quite a few. Best experience was sitting next to Neil Armstrong (first man on the moon) for lunch whilst I was visiting NASA Dryden, in USA – not planned, just sat at an empty space in their cafeteria. We had a great chat about the future of aircraft technology.

      Met Lord Allan Sugar at a tech conference – he really is very sharp!

      But best of all – played football tennis with Paul Pogba (ex Manchester United), for 20 minutes during a break in a conference in Monaco – he was quite good!

    • Photo: Jack McKinlay

      Jack McKinlay answered on 9 Jun 2025:

      I’ve met a few scientists who have been on television, and some that are famous within the scientist community. No celebrities just yet though.

    • Photo: John Easton

      John Easton answered on 9 Jun 2025:

      Depends on what you mean by “famous”. I know a few Nobel prizewinners. I’ve met and worked with some of the people that defined a lot of “IT things” that we take for granted such as Vint Cerf, Ken Thompson, Grady Booch and Brian Kernighan (but if you don’t know their names, does that mean they’re not famous)?

    • Photo: Steve Potterill

      Steve Potterill answered on 19 Jun 2025:

      When I was an engineer in the Royal Air Force I used to work with the pilot Andy Green who holds the land speed record (the first to break the sound barrier on land) in a Rolls Royce jet engine-powered car (ThrustSSC) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record

    • Photo: Richard Fitzpatrick

      Richard Fitzpatrick answered on 19 Jun 2025:

      Not in my current job, although I have met a couple of Nobel Prize winners when I was a researcher!

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