FT: John Browne: A man of science

John Browne – Lord Browne of Madingley – is proud of his reputation as one of Britain’s great business leaders of the past two decades, having run BP from 1995 to 2007, its golden period of expansion and diversification. But he would also love to be known as an engineer and scientist.

Browne served as president of the Royal Academy of Engineering for five years, is a fellow of the Royal Society and has now emerged as a talented science writer. “I put engineering before science,” he tells me, “because engineers have drawn the short straw in terms of public reputation and recognition. Scientists have enjoyed the better part of the bargain. Science is seen as solving mysteries while engineering is applying the solution to something practical.”

I am talking to Browne about his new book, Seven Elements That Have Changed the World, which blends science, history and reminiscence to tell the stories of the chemical elements that have had the biggest impact: iron, carbon, gold, silver, uranium, titanium and silicon.  MORE