Diamonds are a physics researcher’s best friend. That’s what Associate Professor Jodie Brady told year 12 students at St Mary’s Star of the Sea College this week.
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Professor Brady was spruiking her award winning research involving the precious gems as a way to break down stereotypes.
‘‘Gender is one thing, but also the fact that scientists are just general normal people who have normal lives and aren’t nerds sitting in labs all the time,’’ she said.
It’s all part of a national tour of high schools to inspire females to take a career in a traditionally male dominated field and to showcase how cool science could be.
Professor Brady told the students about how she discovered how ‘‘amazingly cool’’ research was and becoming determined to get a job ‘‘at all costs’’.
Diamonds are a regular in her work because they are the hardest substance on earth and are used as a tool to squash materials new forms. It means research can become a bit pricey but luckily her team either uses small stones or collaborates with a harvesting plant in the US.
They’re grown in a scientific reactor with high temperatures and pressure, and can create stones up to 11 carats.
