IT was the marvels of science that led Alistair Clarke to develop a passion for the subject when he was a young boy.
The physicist was inspired by images of the cosmos, which made him seek out answers to bigger questions and gave him a hunger to be involved in the forefront of research.
Alistair, 17, added: "In year three I had this book called the Kingfisher Book of Space – I just loved the pictures and I had no idea what was in them, but looking at that book gave me a huge fascination with science generally."
The year 13 student at Bluecoat Academy has set his sights on Oxford University and, due to his impressive commitment, his teachers have nominated him for the Post's Science and Engineering Award. Alistair said: "I've toyed with the idea of teaching and I'd love to go into research.
"I'd like to do a PhD – mostly for the sake of being called "Dr Clarke".
Physics teacher Daniel Sandiford, who nominated Alistair, said he was a truly exceptional physics student who goes well beyond what is expected of him at school.
"He clearly has a real passion for physics and has read around the subject extensively.''
His great achievements have landed him the Ogden Trust's Lower Sixth Physicists of the Year Award, which offers student grants to maximise the opportunities available to them at university.
He took part in a placement with the Nuffield Foundation at Nottingham Trent University and took part in a genuine research project. It was to find the optimum way of blowing a bubble.
He said: "You know if you're out in the garden and you're blowing bubbles, if you blow too hard then the bubble bursts, and if you blow too softly it doesn't inflate – so there must be an optimum wind speed to blow a bubble."
Alistair was glad not to be enlisted as bubble-blower, as the team used an air pump and varied the power.
And what kind of applications does the perfect bubble have in the modern world, you may well ask.
"Oh it's going to help humanity in such a huge way," said Alistair.
"But seriously, there are applications for bubbles – one paper investigated the use of bubbles to measure the efficiency of wind turbines."
