Philip McIntosh learned to run a metal lathe when he was 16 years old and has been making and fixing things ever since. After spending four years in the USAF as an aircraft electrician, he worked for 17 years in the medical device industry as a maintenance technician and reliability engineer specializing in machine tools, chemical process equipment, and analytical instruments. He earned a B.Sc., in both chemistry and botany and a masters degree in biological science. Phil published his first professional paper in 1993 and has been actively writing in the fields of science and education ever since with more than 35 publication to his name in both scientific journals and popular science magazines. Phil has more than 20 years of experience teaching at the elementary, middle school, and college levels.