UCL in the News: Tap-dancing UCL scientist

Dr Bradford Backus, a researcher in human hearing at the UCL Ear Institute in Gray's Inn Road, won the London Entrepreneurs Challenge 2007 for a business model based on the sale of his Boomcube - a portable speaker set which claims to offer unparalleled sound quality for a unit of its size.

Avid ballroom and tap dancer Dr Backus explained that the Boomcube's invention had been one of necessity. He said: "I was studying at MIT in 2003 when I began dancing classes. I couldn't find any portable sound systems loud enough to hear over my own tapping." …

"It just so happens that my discipline involves the same acoustics and engineering needed to design a small but powerful system." …

Public interest gave Dr Backus the impetus needed to start a company - Audio3 - to market and produce the Boomcube. …

UCL Provost Professor Malcolm Grant said: "It is very encouraging for me to see that, year on year, the entrepreneurial spark seems to burn ever brighter in our young scientists."

Simon Wroe, 'Camden New Journal'