Michael Kenward OBE

Science Writer, Kenward Words Ltd
Email: michael.kenward@absw.org.uk
Web: click here

Before becoming a freelance writer and consultant in 1990, I spent the 1980s as editor of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. This appointment came after 10 years in various writing and editing posts on the magazine. So you could look at it as a reward for long service.

I graduated in 1966 from Sussex University with a physics degree. My first job was as a research scientist, working on nuclear fusion and using lasers to take the temperature of a very hot gas. Horrified by the prospect of messing around in a laboratory for 40 years, I took on an editing job with a contract research organisation. I joined New Scientist in 1969. My writing on the magazine focused on technology in general and on energy matters in particular, resulting in the book Potential Energy (CUP).

While with New Scientist I collected various awards. These included Science Writer of the Year, from the Association of British Science Writers, and Editor of the Year, from the British Society of Magazine Editors. During my time as Editor, the magazine also won more than its fair share of awards, including Magazine of the Year from the Periodical Publishers Association.

I escaped from New Scientist in June 1990. After more than 10 years running a large and increasingly successful business in a massive company, I wanted to return to writing. Management memos are no substitute for the real thing.
At New Scientist I tried to persuade the scientific community that research could be 'fun' as well as an important economic and intellectual activity. I now try to communicate this message to other people.