Fraser Burton, BT, Networks Physics is the sponsor of our Autumn 2020 virtual conference

Let's Get Physical - Autumn 2020 Virtual Conference

Held on 12th - 16th October 2020: Five days of Physics goodness on 

- Optics
- Wireless
- PGR Spotlight day
- Quantum 
- Data Science & AI

Find out more.

Please meet Fraser Burton, who is the sponsor of this 'Let's Get Physical' conference, and thus will set the scene for each day.

“We connect for good” - We can make the world a better place with knowledge, if we choose to. But how can we know what to believe? In a world of fake news and billions of social media accounts, there is a lot of nonsense out there. 

This is not a new problem, in fact the solution was found five hundred years ago with the birth of the Scientific Method. Richard Feynman, one of the world’s greatest physicists, said it well “ The test of all knowledge is experiment. Experiment is the sole judge of scientific truth. But also needed is imagination to create the great generalisations and then to experiment again to check whether we made the right guess”. 

Physics is the foundation of our technological world and this week we celebrate the role of physics and physicists in shaping the Digital Future.

Fraser Burton is Senior Manager of Network Physics within BT's Applied Research department.

Fraser’s childhood was influenced by Carl Sagan’s science programmes and Isaac Asimov’s science fiction stories. His first science experiment was to copy the cartoon electromagnet used  by the Coyote to catch Roadrunner, which unfortunately shorted out his parent’s house and TV set. Later experiments included producing chlorine gas from salt water, throwing sodium in a bath tub and electrifying a wet lawn. 

Although the short-term consequences of these experiments were unfortunate, every experimental outcome is a chance to learn! Fraser studied Physics at Oxford and Telecoms Engineering at Kings College London and went on to join BT at our global research HQ, Adastral Park. After a long and surprisingly varied career working across most functions and parts of this multi-national company, Fraser is now ridiculously pleased to be leading a team conducting transformational physics research to improve telecommunications. 

Fraser is a passionate advocate of the power of physics to make the world a better place – there is still so much to learn, we just need the imagination and courage to ask the right questions.