Andrea Sella (born February 1961) is a chemist and broadcaster based at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

where he is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. He studies

rare-earth metals The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium, which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set of ...

and collaborates with several research groups on hydrogen storage, carbonitrides, and nanotube insertion chemistry. He has been involved in numerous television documentaries, including the 2010 BBC documentary'' Chemistry: A Volatile History'', which was nominated for the 2010

British Academy Television Awards The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in ...

in the category Specialist Factual. In 2014 he presented "My Family and other Ibex" and "Urine Trouble: What's in our Water" on BBC Radio 4. He has been a guest on Melvyn Bragg's

In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...

and appeared regularly on radio programmes like Start the Week,

Weekend The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week, devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most o ...

Newshour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). There is also an additional online programme ...

, the

Today Programme ''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is BBC Radio 4's long-running morning news and current-affairs radio programme. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 09:00 (starting on Saturday at 07:00), it is produced by BB ...

and the Infinite Monkey Cage. He has been consultant and contributor for the BBC World Service's series "Elemental Economics" presented by Justin Rowlatt.

Early life

Sella was born in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, in 1961, but grew up in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, USA, and

Nairobi, Kenya Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi Riv ...

. He studied chemistry at Trinity College, University of Toronto, as an undergraduate and started research for a PhD under Professor Robert H. Morris on

molecular hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

compounds. He obtained a D.Phil. in Chemistry from 1986–1990 at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

studying with Professor Malcolm Green.

Career

Sella was appointed Lecturer at UCL in 1990. He was awarded an

EPSRC The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...

Senior Media Fellowship from 2007 to 2012. He was promoted to Professor in 2012. His research interests include the molecular chemistry of the lanthanides, the confinement of elemental phosphorus inside carbon nanotubes, and the synthesis and properties of layered carbonitrides. His monthly column in the Royal Society of Chemistry's

Chemistry World ''Chemistry World'' is a monthly chemistry news magazine published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The magazine addresses current events in the world of chemistry including research, international business news and government policy as it affe ...

, "Classic Kit", with guest contributions by his Masters student, Talitha Humphrey, explores the history of chemistry through the lens of scientific apparatus. He is also well known for science demonstrations for both school children and adults. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of the

Cheltenham Science Festival Cheltenham Science Festival is one of the UK's leading science festivals, and is part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for the Jazz, Music and Literature Festivals that run every year. The 2018 Cheltenham Science Festival (6–11 June) ...

. He was awarded the 2014

Michael Faraday Prize ''The Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture'' is awarded for "excellence in communicating science to UK audiences." Named after Michael Faraday, the medal itself is made of silver gilt, and is accompanied by a purse of £2500. Backgro ...

from the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

for "his excellent work in science communication". Since February 2014, he has been a frequent guest speaker in a

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

radio programme called "''Elements''". He explains how

chemical element A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its ...

s behave, react, and how they are used. In the programme that aired on 16 September 2016 featuring

thorium Thorium is a chemical element; it has symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is a weakly radioactive light silver metal which tarnishes olive grey when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft, malleable, and ha ...

, he temporarily replaced Justin Rowlatt as the host. He has also presented several programmes on BBC Radio 4 and

. Sella returned his

in June 2025 over the

's "failure to take stronger action against

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

, a fellow of the UK academy, for presiding over 'onslaughts on US science."

References

1961 births Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford English chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Italian expatriates in England Academics of University College London University of Toronto alumni Living people 21st-century chemists Rare earth scientists {{chemist-stub