Thomas Clayson

Thomas Clayson has been working in the field of technology and robotics since 2012. From 2012 to 2014, they were the President of the Imperial College Robotics Society, where they organised and led student projects, organised lectures from high profile experts, and ran the Imperial Robotics 101 course. In 2012, they also conducted experiments on the 4 kJ national laboratory laser at AWE to study counter propagating radiative shocks in noble gases. From 2014 to 2018, they were a PhD Student at Imperial College London, where they ran experiments on the Mega Ampere Generator for Plasma Implosion Experiments (MAGPIE) facility and developed electronic systems to handle laser safety and timing of diagnostics and triggering. Since 2018, they have been a Senior Scientist at First Light Fusion, where they played a key role in the construction of M3, Europe's largest pulsed power machine, and conducted the initial experiments to characterise it's electrical characteristics. Thomas has also used hydrodynamic codes to simulate experimental loads and targets for fusion. Since 2019, they have been the Chief Technology Officer at Magdrive Ltd.

Thomas Clayson attended The Hemel Hempstead School from 2003 to 2010, where they studied Maths, Physics, and Chemistry. Thomas then pursued a Master's Degree in Physics at Imperial College London from 2010 to 2014. Finally, they completed a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Plasma Physics at Imperial College London from 2014 to 2018.