Nina Notman
Science writer and editor
After finishing my organic chemistry PhD at the University of Bristol, I had come to realise that I didn’t have the patience required to be a good bench chemist. I started looking around for a career than allowed me to indulge my love for science while not being lab-based, which led me to join the journals team at the Royal Society of Chemistry with a focus on guiding papers through the peer review process. I was also given the opportunity to write magazine-style articles about some of the papers we published, something I relished. I then joined the Chemistry World team, first as a science correspondent and later as the features editor. In 2012, due to a family relocation, I went freelance and now write for a range of different chemistry and science education publications.
FeatureIntroducing mechanochemistry
Mechanochemical synthesis offers a different way to make compounds. Nina Notman asks whether we should all get grinding
NewsLarge scale experiment probes chemistry inside our homes
Dozens of analytical instruments have spent a month observing the chemistry of the air inside a three bed house
FeatureEthics in chemistry
Nina Notman asks whether chemists should be giving more consideration to the ethics of their research
Feature3D printing in pharma
Nina Notman explores how 3D printing is carving out a niche for itself in the pharmaceutical industry
FeatureCuba: socialism, cigars and biotech
Nina Notman learns how biotechnology could potentially overtake cigars as Cuba’s most famous export
FeatureArtificial blood
Nina Notman reports on progress towards products that can, when necessary, replace donor red blood cells
FeatureLife on other planets
A series of missions to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn has revealed their potential to harbour life. Nina Notman looks to the skies
FeatureEvery breath you take
Nina Notman meets the chemists looking to clear the air around indoor air pollution
FeatureThe science of distilling gin
Do you know your cold compound from your London dry? Nina Notman sorts through the botanicals to find the perfect cocktail
CareersMaintaining the UK's nuclear deterrent
The scientific challenges of working on a weapon that can never be tested
FeatureMOFs find a use
Nina Notman takes stock of the first products containing metal–organic frameworks to hit the shelves
FeatureHow ketamine could help treat severe depression
Nina Notman looks at how the party drug ketamine may hold the key to treating patients with severe depression
FeatureUrban air pollution
Nina Notman meets the chemists breathing fresh air into urban air pollution research
FeaturePersonalised skincare
Nina Notman explores some of the latest scientific approaches skincare companies are using in the quest to develop high-earning anti-ageing cosmetics
FeatureActivating C–Hemistry
Meet the organic chemists intent on breaking bonds that are generally considered to be unreactive
FeatureExplosive science
Nina Notman learns the role chemistry plays in monitoring volcanoes and understanding the impact of their eruptions
CareersThe offshore chemist
Catriona Gebbie talks to Nina Notman about life as the only analytical chemist on board a North Sea oil production platform
