chemistry

Gail Bradbrook

Gail Bradbrook is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gail Bradbrook rather than just read about it. In short: Gail Marie Bradbrook (born 30 April 1972) is a British environmental activist and molecular biophysicist who co-founded the environmental social movement Extinction Rebellion. Early life and career Bradbrook was born in 1972 and grew up in South Elmsall in West Yorkshire.

Key takeaways

Gail Bradbrook belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gail Bradbrook to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gail Bradbrook from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gail Marie Bradbrook (born 30 April 1972) is a British environmental activist and molecular biophysicist who co-founded the environmental social movement Extinction Rebellion.

Early life and career Bradbrook was born in 1972 and grew up in South Elmsall in West Yorkshire. Her father worked at a mine in South Kirkby. She studied molecular biophysics at the University of Manchester, gaining a PhD. She carried out postdoctoral work in India and France. From 2003 to 2017 she was 'director of strategy' at Citizens Online, an organisation promoting wider internet access for disabled users, including launching a 'Fix the Web' campaign in November 2010.

Activism An interest in animal rights led Bradbrook to join the Green Party at the age of 14. She has been involved in various campaigning groups in Stroud, including a 2010 to 2013 period as voluntary director of Transition Stroud, an anti-fracking protest, various actions in opposition to the building of a local incinerator, including a naked protest, and an early Extinction Rebellion roadblock in Merrywalks, Stroud. In 2015, with George Barda, she set up the group Compassionate Revolution (which morphed into Rising Up!, out of which came Extinction Rebellion). "Bradbrook had been involved in the Occupy movement and campaigns around peak oil, but they failed to take off." In 2016, she went on a psychedelic retreat to Costa Rica, "where she took ayahuasca, iboga and kambo, in search of some clarity in her work." That experience "made her change her approach" to campaigning. Soon after returning she met Roger Hallam and together they came up with Extinction Rebellion. Bradbrook wants to raise awareness of the dangers from anthropogenic climate change and believes that only civil disobedience on a large scale can bring about the change that is needed. In November 2020 she was included in the BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power list 2020. In August 2021, Bradbrook acknowledged that she drives a 1.5l Citroen diesel car. She said she could not afford an electric car and she needed the vehicle to drive her children to sports matches.

Personal life Bradbrook has been married twice, the first time to Jeffrey Forshaw. She has two sons. She lives in Stroud as does her ex-partner Simon Bramwell, who is also a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing On 2 November 2023, after a three-day trial, Bradbrook was found guilty of criminal damage, for breaking a pane of reinforced security glass at the Department for Transport, costing £27,660, in protest against HS2. Convicted by a jury at Isleworth Crown Court, Bradbrook acknowledged her actions and the lack of a lawful excuse as argued by the prosecution, but she stood by her motivations for environmental advocacy. The judge maintained the trial focused on the illegal act, not the wider climate issues. Bradbrook, who represented herself, argued her protest was peaceful and necessary after other advocacy methods failed. At Isleworth Crown Court in West London on 18 December 2023, Bradbrook was given a 15-month suspended sentence, with 150 hours of unpaid work and a year-long supervision order.

Bibliography Gail Bradbrook (2019). "What is our place in these times?". In Extinction Rebellion (ed.). This Is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook. Penguin Books. pp. 185–186. ISBN 9780141991443.

References

External links

Compassionate revolution – Gail Bradbrook – Off grid Festival 2016 – YouTube video by PermanentCultureNow Rising Up! How Things Change: The Duty to Disobey – Dr Bradbrook speaks at SOAS University, 2017

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gail Bradbrook

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gail Bradbrook claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gail Bradbrook before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gail Bradbrook ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gail Bradbrook

In research: Gail Bradbrook appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gail Bradbrook in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gail Bradbrook is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1972 births, 20th-century British scientists, 21st-century British scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gail Bradbrook outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gail Bradbrook in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gail Bradbrook means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gail Bradbrook out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gail Bradbrook in simple terms?

Gail Marie Bradbrook (born 30 April 1972) is a British environmental activist and molecular biophysicist who co-founded the environmental social movement Extinction Rebellion. Early life and career Bradbrook was born in 1972 and grew up in South Elmsall in West Yorkshire.

Why does Gail Bradbrook matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gail Bradbrook?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gail Bradbrook.