Sharon Ann Holgate has a doctorate in experimental physics from the University of Sussex in the UK, where she was a Visiting Fellow in Physics and Astronomy for nine years, and is a Chartered Scientist and Chartered Physicist. She has worked for eighteen years as a freelance science writer and broadcaster, with broadcast credits including presenting on the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4, presenting video podcasts for medical research charity the Myrovlytis Trust and appearing on a 'Boffins Special' of The Weakest Link. Her articles have appeared in Science, Science Careers, New Scientist, The Times Higher Education Supplement, E&T, Flipside, Focus, Physics World, Interactions, Materials World, Modern Astronomer, and Astronomy Now, while her first book The Way Science Works (a children's popular science book co-authored with Robin Kerrod) was shortlisted for the Royal Society Junior Books Prize. She was a contributor to the popular science book 30-Second Quantum Theory, and her undergraduate textbook Understanding Solid State Physics is currently in use as a core text in universities around the world. She has also written careers material, case studies, and press releases for the Institute of Physics and careers material and brochures for The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, and given talks at venues including the Science Museum in London. Dr Holgate was the Institute of Physics Young Professional Physicist of the Year for 2006, won a Merit Award in the 1994 Daily Telegraph Young Science Writer of the Year competition, and was shortlisted for the radio programme category of the Association of British Science Writers' Awards in 2005. Outside of work she collects contemporary ceramics, is a regular visitor to art galleries and museums, and enjoys learning about fashion history and steam locomotives.