In the early 2000s, science education in schools was delivered almost exclusively by teachers. There were a number of science centres, but these concentrated mainly on attracting visitors to the centre rather than going out into the schools to support the delivery of science education. One unfortunate consequence of this was that many teenagers (particularly girls) lost interest in science.

Wendy Sadler was determined to change that. She believed that science should and could appeal to everyone, if only they were suitably inspired. Wendy was a graduate in Physics and Music and had considerable experience of working in science centres and developing science education programmes in both Australia and the UK.

She believed that most younger children are excited by science and how things work. But for some reason for many people that enthusiasm was lost as they became teenagers. Wendy thought that if that enthusiasm could be sustained teachers would find the challenge facing them easier and more children would succeed in science. So, in 2002 she established Science Made Simple to motivate young people to maintain their inquisitive mind throughout their time at school and beyond.

At around this time, there was significant growth in the number of science festivals taking place across the UK. These events served a different audience from that in the schools and provided an opportunity to inspire and enthuse people of all ages in the wonders of science. Naturally, Science Made Simple hopped on the festival circuit. Over the years science festivals have remained an important market for Science Made Simple, but interest has expanded and SMS now presents its range of science and engineering shows for other types of cultural event such as Glastonbury, Green Man and FUNHarmonics for the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The growth in business naturally led to an expansion in the numbers employed and in 2007 The company opened its branch in North England with the appointment of David Price. Soon after that the Cardiff headquarters were further developed with the employment of new staff there and branches in Norwich and then Milton Keynes, which concentrated on developing close collaboration with the Open University.

In addition to expanding the geographical areas covered by the Science Made Simple, the company also continued to expand and develop its portfolio of shows and workshops. One of the most successful and innovative was the Visualise Project. This show grew out of a problem the company was facing delivering shows overseas. The British Council had been keen to engage Science Made Simple to deliver programmes across Europe and the rest of the world but as an important part of any show is its interactive nature, any show which used simultaneous translators would lose much of its spontaneity. To address this problem Wendy developed a new show which would be delivered without words. Visualise was an immediate hit and led to Wendy being awarded the European Descartes Prize in 2008. As previous winners of the prize included David Attenborough and Bill Bryson, this recognition was hugely important to her and the company. The show is still available today and has been the inspiration for many imitations by other companies.

The company recently celebrated its twenty first birthday and celebrated by getting staff old and new together for a celebration event. Science Made Simple continues to go from strength to strength.

The expertise and enthusiasm of the staff allow the company to look forward with confidence to the next fifteen years and beyond. It will continue to work towards its goals of changing attitudes towards science, of promoting girls into following science at school and university, of creating the next generation of scientists, able to communicate complex thoughts for a lay audience and of ensuring that everyone has access to and confidence in STEM.

We’re delighted that Helen Czerski accepted our invitation to become patron of Science Made Simple. Helen is a physicist, oceanographer and broadcaster with a passion for science, sport, books, creativity, hot chocolate and investigating the interesting things in life. She’s an expert on bubbles and acoustics too, so she’s definitely a kindred spirit to the mission of our team!

Helen has presented a number of brilliant science programmes on BBC4 and Radio 4 and is the author of the highly acclaimed book; “Storm in a Teacup: the physics of everyday life”.

Helen said “I’m delighted to be the new Patron of Science Made Simple because learning about the way the world works has so much to offer all of us – it’s not just the delight of curiosity satisfied, or the fun of finding things out – science changes our perspective on the world and provides the critical framework that citizens need to make everyday decisions. Science Made Simple does a great job of sharing this message.”

Helen has also made us a short film sharing her tips on how to make a good science video for our 60 second video competition. You can find out more about all the things she’s done here.