Profile – Physics Zone

Education:

I got my education in Italy, which is where I am from. I went to a state secondary school in Rome and then to the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ for an undergraduate degree in Physics. I got a Master’s Degree from the University of Bologna and a PhD from the University of Florence – both of them in ‘Cultural Heritage Science’.
Qualifications:

– High school diploma (Italy, aged 17)
– BSc + MSc, Physics (Italian undergraduate degrees are a bit of both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s all together)
– MSc, Cultural Heritage Science
– PhD, Cultural Heritage Science
Work History:

– Worked in a bookshop in Rome (2003-2004)
– Short-term research contracts in Paris (2007-2008)
– Research fellowship at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (2008-2011)
– Research Associateship at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (2011-2016)
Current Job:

Senior Research Scientist at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge

About Me:

I am a physicist working in an art museum and spend lots of time trying to uncover the secrets of objects made hundreds or thousands of years ago.
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I live in Cambridge and enjoy cycling to work every day. I love to read and travel, and go visit my family in Italy at least once or twice a year.
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https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/users/paola-ricciardi
My Typical Day:

I cycle for 15 minutes to get to work, and enter the Museum when the public are not yet allowed in. I switch on my scientific equipment and spend my day in the lab with some ancient painting, manuscript, or sculpture. It takes me a long time to write up all the things that the scientific analysis allows me to discover! I often have to read other people’s work to help me understand what my own results mean. I also spend quite a lot of time talking to children, teachers and other scientists about my job.

Paola Ricciardi