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Doing physics by ear

24 Nov 2016

Aqil Sajjad recently finished his postdoc at Harvard University in the US, where he does particle physics research. But unlike most particle physicists, he does physics by ear. That’s because Sajjad – who will be celebrating his 37th birthday this month – lost his sight to retina detachments in both eyes when he was a teenager growing up in Islamabad. In the November episode of the Physics World podcast Sajjad talks to journalist Lucina Melesio about his experiences in physics. You will hear how Sajjad accesses maths and science concepts using speech-to-text software.

When not pondering the underlying principles of the physics universe, Sajjad is also a strong advocate of improving accessibility for people with visual impairments. He makes the case that everybody stands to benefit from diversifying the ways in which physics is taught. In his spare time Sajjad is also a keen baseball player and is often travels to other US cities with his team the Boston Renegades. At heart though, Sajjad admits that he prefers cricket!

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