A Cambridge Quantum Physicist Builds a Better Cat Flap

For several years after installing a pet door for his cat, Flipper, Nick Hill had a problem: Stray cats would wander into his house through the rubber flap to eat Flipper’s food, start fights with him, and pee on the furniture.

In 2005, Hill, who has a PhD in quantum physics from Cambridge University in England, began devising a mechanical cat flap that would open only when activated by the microchip implanted in Flipper’s back to identify him if he got lost. Two years and eight patents later, Hill had a prototype working in his Cambridge home. Flipper, age 10, “was chief product tester,” says Hill, 38.