Rick Turton (aka Professor Brainstorm) has a BSc and PhD in Physics from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

He is a professional scientist and taught physics at Newcastle University for over ten years. During this time he began developing some school science shows - initially for 16-18 year olds - but the audiences gradually got younger ("or maybe I got older!").

In 2002 his alter ego Professor Brainstorm was born. Since then he has given over 200 shows at more than 100 schools (mainly in North East England).

"I have always been interested in communicating scientific ideas to non-scientists - and particularly getting young people enthusiastic about science."

"My message (as it says on the t-shirt) is that Science is Fun. But I am not simply aiming to provide a bit of entertainment. I always explain how the experiments work. And I provide a detailed set of notes for teachers so that they can answer any questions that the children ask later. The notes also give some idea for follow-up activities, so that many of the ideas discussed in the show can be explored further in the classroom."

In addition to performing the Professor Brainstorm shows for primary age children, Rick Turton is also involved in many educational events for older pupils, including:

giving demonstration lectures and shows for high school pupils,

running Gifted and Talented Masterclasses in Physics for Year 10 pupils,

organising various schools events in collaboration with the North East branch of the Institute of Physics - including the annual IoP schools lecture, Paperclip Physics (a competition for pupils in Years 11 and 12), and (in 2005) several Einstein Year events.