• Question: If you had won 1million pounds what would you spend it?

    Asked by dartz to Chris, Eva, Michael, Paddy, Philip on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Paddy Brock

      Paddy Brock answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      The first thing I’d do is give a big chunk to the Orangutan Foundation (http://www.orangutan.org.uk/), as it’s where I first worked as a volunteer when I was 16 and I always promised them any future lottery winnings! (But they also do great conservation work and a small amount of funding can help them keep their research and rehabilitation camp open). Then I’d have to think carefully about what to do next. I admire Bill and Melinda Gate’s approach to being extremely rich and wanting to do something helpful – he’s made it the mission of his charitable foundation to try to prevent deaths from malaria (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/topics/Pages/malaria.aspx).

    • Photo: Chris Jordan

      Chris Jordan answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I like to put a wodge into getting our old telescope a revamp – there’s always expensive things that it needs (it’s more than 50 years old) ……. but I expect there are some much more worthy social causes out there would make good use of that sort of dosh. So I don’t know if I want to do better astronomy or save the world – what would you do?

    • Photo: Eva Bachmair

      Eva Bachmair answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Probably save some for the future or the rainy days. With that as back up job hunting is hopefully a bit relaxter when you don’t need to worry that much about your income. Funding a sholarship for students as gaining knowledge is quite expensive. And then? See what is left

    • Photo: Philip Denniff

      Philip Denniff answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Not something that is likely to happen, so there is no point in pondering over it. Last year to Transylvania (yes it really exists full of forest, bears, wolves and otters) and had a great walking holiday. I would like to go to Syria (desert, Crusaders, Roman) but I don’t think this is a good year to go. So maybe I will leave the million behind and follow the Inca trail to Mata Picchu. But then again I would like a Gauguin, but I would need more than a million so I will continue to like.

    • Photo: Michael Wharmby

      Michael Wharmby answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hmm… that’s quite a lot of money.
      I think I would like to spend some of it on travelling around the world to see all the places I want to (Australia, New Zealand, India…).
      Another project would be something a friend from my undergraduate was working on. In rural India, for example, the people cook on stoves indoors which fill their houses with smoke and cause lots of breathing problems. My friend was involved in developing and supplying clean-burning stoves to villagers which improved their quality of life no end. I’d like to give some money to that.
      Finally I’d like to set up some scholarships to allow people who are good at research, but struggle with exams (like me!) to get into research. Oftne the people who get the second class degrees in chemistry are better researchers, though perhaps not as good at the theory, as they are slightly more practically minded. I think a lot of these people find it difficult to get further than the degree though and can’t carry on with research, which is a shame.

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