The Mean Machine is not the name that its manufacturer gave it but it’s what I am calling it because I am a Registrar and not a scientist. Its official name is a Continuous-flow Hydrogenation Reactor and it arrived at Sedbergh Prep this week – a first for any school. This (rather unassuming-looking) machine is currently used commercially and by MIT and Cambridge Universities in the synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds. And now it will be used at Sedbergh Prep as part of a collaborative effort between ThalesNano, Dr Hoskin (Science teacher and Boys’ Housemaster) and Professor Ley’s Research Group in Cambridge University’s Chemistry Department. The benefits to our Year 7-13 pupils will be tremendous. They will gain exposure to new Science that is above and beyond anything taught elsewhere. And our aspiring chemists, physicists and chemical engineers in the Senior School will also enjoy placements with Professor Ley’s Group; now with the added prospect of work experience at ThalesNano, Hungary. Amazing stuff!
