This month we managed to catch up with SAW founder, research scientist and poet, Professor Anne Osbourn and asked her our top three questions.

Hi Anne, what is your favourite piece of poetry at the moment?

I thought about this very hard.  It is still ‘Under Milk Wood’ by Dylan Thomas.

It creates a magical, lyrical place.  I love long poems that tell stories.  The characters and humour are wonderful.  I have visited Dylan’s boathouse in Laugharne, where he wrote many of his major pieces.  I even painted a picture of his desk!

Find out more about Dylan Thomas’s work here.

What is your favourite piece of artwork?

‘Bigger and Closer’ (not smaller and further away) – David Hockney

It is like being in art.  It’s a celebration of Hockney’s work, but not a boring retrospective.  It is so innovative.  It is in ‘Lightroom’ near King’s Cross – a fully projectable space – with the voice of Hockney taking you through his thinking about art, and his art.  He is always looking forwards.  Always looking.

Find out about more of David Hockney’s exhibits here

Can you tell us your most interesting scientific fact?

The fact that the ovaries of an unborn baby girl contain egg cells; that when my grandmother Winnie was expecting my mother, working behind the counter in a chip shop in Blackpool in 1928, half of me was there.