Research! Work or play?
When I began my PhD I was interested in the numerical modelling of fluids. I wasn't too fussed what the setting of the fluid was. I would have been just as happy modelling the breaking of a wave on a beach as I was with my eventual topic, which was the modelling of accretion discs in close binaries. I completed my thesis in 1994 on just that topic. Here is an animation from one of those calculations. It shows how tidal forces on the disc can force it to become very eccentric, and quite simply very stressed.

More recently I have been working wih Robin Humble and Sarah Maddison, as well as Laure Barriere and Jean-Francois Gonzalez in Lyon to model the early stages of planet formation. Quite simply I find the recent torrent of extra-solar planet discoveries to be the most extraordinary and unexpectedly exciting thing to happen in astronomy since perhaps teh moon landings. The discoveries have changed the course of professional astronomy with many major projects (satellites and the like) now being funded. But at the most basic level, the newfound knowledge that there are many planets around other stars has and will lead to a huge change in the way we look at ourselves.

Well that is my tuppence worth anyway. I feel quite privileged to be able to study the phenomenon and to talk about it with all and sundry!