Interview Dame Athene Donald: British physicist and Master of Churchill College, Cambridge, Dame Athene Donald wants more women to go into STEM and, when they get there, a bit more equality

AS THE electric minicab makes its way to the railway station, its driver turns to me and, in the spirit of polite conversation, asks what brought me to the University of Cambridge today As we thread past the famous skyline of King's College, I reply that I've been for a meeting with a distinguished scientist, the Master of Churchill College. “Has he invented any cool stuff?” the cabbie enquires, and I reply that the master is a woman, and yes, Dame Athene Donald is one of the ‘coolest’ British physicists of the 20th century and beyond.