Twins Mark and Leigh Whitehead go separate ways after gaining PHDs in particle physics
Mark (right) and Leigh
Whitehead, twins who have both graduated with PhDs in particle
physics
As one atom said to the other - we gotta split.
And that’s just what identical twins Mark and Leigh Whitehead
are set to do after graduating this week with PhDs in particle
physics.
Originally from Barleycorn, Leybourne, the brothers went to
Brookfield Infants School and Oakwood Grammar in Maidstone, where
they discovered a joint talent for maths and physics.
Since then they’ve followed the same path to Warwick University,
but are now, aged 26, going their separate ways on different
research projects - Mark staying at Warwick to work on an
experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva; Leigh moving to
University College London to work on an experiment at Fermilab in
the US - both working to unlock the darkest secrets of matter and
antimatter.
Mark said they were looking forward to forging their own
paths.
“A long time ago we saw a programme about some twins in their
90s who had always stayed together.
"The interviewer asked what would happen if one of them died and
they both looked alarmed. We thought - we don’t want to end up like
that.”
Despite that they remain in daily contact and share the same
interests - playing guitar, football, Formula One, and of course,
physics.
“What interests me is finding out things we don’t know,” added
Mark.
“I’ve always wanted to know more, but you get to a point where
no one knows the answers and you have to find out yourself.”
24/01/13
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