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book review Dr Melanie Windridge, Physicist, speaker, writer… with a taste for adventure Melanie grew up in Amersham and loves science and the outdoors, and has built up her career around these passions. Her new book, Aurora: In Search of the Northern Lights, was published by HarperCollins in February. When I was 25, after three post-university years travelling, I started a doctorate in plasma physics. I was studying fusion energy, particularly how we make fusion power stations on Earth. But fusion wasn’t the only plasma phenomenon that would capture my attention. Fusion is what is happening in the stars to make them shine. Small particles combine to make bigger ones – just like assembling building blocks or Lego bricks. Fusion releases huge amounts of energy. But making a star on Earth is really hard to do, so we can’t do it yet. But we are working on it, and it will happen one day. Towards the end of my doctorate I began to want to see the northern lights. I wanted to be exploring the wonder of nature in the outdoors, not in the lab. So I decided to write a book about the northern lights, and I went on an extraordinary journey to find out about them. My first experience of the aurora was in Kiruna, Sweden: “To the west, the mine looked almost ethereal, dripping white light and with three plumes of smoke billowing into the sky, illuminated from below. I turned my back on the industry and looked north, where a very quiet aurora was beginning to appear as a green, arcing haze. Over time it grew in colour and clarity, the arch becoming more defined, then breaking and twisting into an S-shape. Other parts of the sky were brightening too, but in different ways..” I travelled in Northern Norway learning about the folklore and culture of the aurora. I went trekking in Iceland to get a feel for the active geology of our planet. I visited small observatories in Canada and even saw faint northern lights in Scotland. Finally, I skied out across Arctic Spitsbergen to see the aurora in the wilderness as old polar explorers would have done. I have never been so cold in my entire life! This book really is a journey of discovery, as much about the travel, personal stories and history as about the science. AURORA is available on Amazon and in bookshops like Waterstones, Blackwells and Foyles. Visit www.melaniewindridge.co.uk or find Melanie on Twitter and Facebook. 2 To advertise in Hiya Bucks text or call 07947 349134 Chris Sinclair - photography I continue working in fusion energy and planning trips for future projects. I would like to go to Antarctica and write about the incredible research that goes on down there. Of course, there will be a few personal challenges thrown in too! I hope to inspire an appreciation of science through the excitement of exploration.