João Medeiros, London

For João Medeiros, Portuguese-born editor of the acclaimed magazine Wired,  the English capital is a city of infinite possibilities and layers, an eternal mystery to be unravelled.

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João Medeiros’ passion for London was awakened when he was about 100km southwest of the English capital. When he was in his final year at school and applying for a place at the Universidade do Porto, he also decided to apply to Southampton. In the end he decided on England and had his parents’ full support, even though it would have been hard on them seeing their only child go. When João got to England he could immediately feel the draw of the capital. “I never made the decision to come to London – it always depended on opportunities that came up. But from the moment I set foot in the UK, I knew I really wanted to come to this city”, he says.

As time went by he started giving thought to a career in science, and when he was in his fourth year of Astronomy, he chose three possible universities to do his doctorate. One of them, however, stood out, since there was a Portuguese physicist there whose work he admired. “I was still in my third year when I read an article about João Magueijo in the Expresso newspaper, and I was really excited”, he recalls. “I liked his very different way of seeing science.”

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João Medeiros talked to his tutor at Southampton about it, and was advised to contact the scientist by email, telling him how much he admired him. Later, at an Imperial College open day, he met the Portuguese researcher, who warned him how difficult it was to get into the university.  “I even remember the expression he used: ‘It’s a funnel.’” Difficult doesn’t mean impossible however, and it was thanks to the doctorate in cosmology that João Medeiros’ ended up doing at Imperial College that he was able to explore the city he was so passionate about. “The city excites me. There is no chance of getting bored here, and even though it can be exhausting, all the sensory input makes you feel really alive.”

At the same time, João started having his first doubts about following a career as a researcher, and they became even stronger in the third year of his doctorate: “Science is a creative process, but it’s one in which there is only a single solution” he explains. “At a certain point I asked myself if the difficulties were an incentive for me to improve or if they frustrated me. The answer was they frustrated me.”

Faced with that anguish, he became determined to find another path and writing seemed the best answer. “I’ve always written a lot. I even had some of my stories published in DN Jovem, a great incentive for people who like writing”, says João. “And I thought: how am I going to make some sort of a future out of this?”

Saved by writing

He took his first steps by writing science articles for the Imperial College newspaper. Many were about theoretical physics, but there were other more generic ones too. The experience was important in that it gave him his first taste of journalism. “It was interesting, not only being a journalist, but starting to write in English – you don’t get much writing practice on a physics course”, he says, remembering his initial difficulties. “That process was quite tough.” His editor at the time provided precious help, but also warned him that, as a foreigner, it would be almost impossible for him to become a professional. It wasn’t a case of prejudice but because of his non-native linguistic background. “It’s already difficult for scientists to become journalists, and even more so if their mother tongue isn’t English.”

João Medeiros proved the opposite was possible. Although he finished his doctorate (which he titled, “in slightly tongue-in-cheek fashion”, The Heart of the Matter, after the book by Graham Greene), João Magueijo encouraged him to write. There was no irony in the advice given by Magueijo (who was now João Medeiros’ friend): he liked what he read. He wasn’t the only one. In a competition organised by the highly respected New Scientist magazine, Medeiros won second place with an essay about science. “I wrote about my doctoral research, but in a creative, and even fictional way.” João Medeiros had taken an important step on the way to being able to make a living from writing without having to leave his favourite city.

He succeeded in getting an internship at the English offices of the American magazine, Seed, and did some freelance work for Nature. After that he went to Bristol when he was hired as editor of Physics World. However, his desire to return to the “cosmopolitan city” was getting stronger and stronger: “London is where it’s all happening, it brings you closer to the rest of the world”, he tells us enthusiastically, “it’s a microcosm of the world. Whatever your interest, you’ll find a shop selling it.”    

Feeling that he couldn’t stay away from London any longer, João got in touch with several magazines: “I didn’t contact Wired, by far my favourite, because I thought I’d have no chance with them.” However, once again the impossible proved no stumbling block. By an amazing coincidence, at the exact time when João was looking for work in London, it was Wired that got in touch with him – they happened to be recruiting at the time.

“There are loads of opportunities to fulfill your ambitions in London”, he says without hesitation. “It might not be as transparent as in the United States, but it’s certainly more of a meritocracy than an aristocracy”, explains João, who in October last year, aged 29, became the first person whose mother tongue is not English to work as an editor at Wired.

Behind him he left Braga, which he remembers with nostalgia. “I’ll never forget the melancholic feeling of the place.” But it also represents the eternal return to the end of his adolescence. “It reminds me of my ambitions when I was 18 years old. I have a friend, Lia, who is constantly reminding me of the person I will always be: Mediterranean, Latin and Portuguese. It’s easy, as an emigrant, to lose your identity.”  Has Portugal become stuck in the past forever? “I don’t know if I’ll return, and I’ll be in this state of quantal uncertainty until the end.” Spoken like a true physicist – and journalist.

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by Alda Rocha

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