Smash hit

Now our heads are beginning to throb. Is the professor really saying that the mobile phone could — just could — turn out to be the cigarette of the 21st century? “Absolutely.”

We put it to him that ever since Marconi, we have lived with radio waves from TV transmitters, radios and radar installations. “Some people say, why do you even start the research? And I say, nobody can know what is going to cause us problems or not. This is the first time anyone’s stuck a transmitter right near to their ear, apart from a few people using walk-ie-talkies. And the exposure you get from mobile phones is thousands — tens of thousands sometimes — times more than you get from a television broadcast or a mobile phone mast.

“And about 40 per cent of the radio energy of that phone is absorbed into your head.” Perhaps, but still no one has come up with a plausible medical explanation of how mobile phones could cause disease, a fact he readily admits.

“But my take on this, before I got involved in my research area, was in low-temperature physics. I have lived through all sorts of exciting things where no theory was ever produced on something that turned out to be very exciting. The fact that we haven’t got a mechanism means nobody has managed to think of one. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”

Professor Challis helps his case by being as sceptical about the dangers of masts, and wi-fi, as he is concerned about possible risks of mobiles. Pinging an e-mail through wi-fi typically exposes you to 200 times less radiation than talking into a mobile phone, he says. “I wouldn’t be worried if my grandchildren were exposed to wi-fi in the classroom.”

Even if a risk is found, people will not have to stop using mobiles, maybe just reduce their exposure to them, such as using a hands-free set, perhaps with a “ferrite bead” (a special metal clip) to block any radiation getting to your ear.

The final charge that sceptics will throw is that he wants to get his organisation more funding. “My personal interest would be to go sailing.” At 73, he is not far from retiring. “I do it because it’s worthwhile.”

We ask him if we can call him on his mobile later, on his way home. Difficult, he says — he keeps it switched off.

Because of health fears? “No, I don’t like people rabbiting away on trains. I try not to rabbit away on trains.” We are about to sigh with relief, and then he adds: “As far as health is concerned, bear in mind I’m not a young guy. Rather different from being a child or a young person or people of your age.”

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