Our Book’s Team
Maria Ploumaki Bigler, Founder, Managing Director, and Author
Maria Ploumaki Bigler is a Swiss-Greek author and entrepreneur living in Zürich, Switzerland with her family. She is the author of “Albert Goes to Oxford” and the founder and Managing Director of Avriano, a Swiss company that creates thoughtful books, products and services for families who love to learn. She believes in living with intention and placing our values first, from selecting the books we read, to the friends we have, to how we raise our children. She read her PostGraduate Diploma in Global Business at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. She has a professional background in business in large corporations in operational and advisory roles and has traveled extensively around the world. She is a Global Shaper alumna, a member of Sandbox, and a One Young World Ambassador.
When I became a mother I dreamed of a book filled with novel ideas and science, classically illustrated, inspiring children to expand their horizons, “dream big and start small” (Muhammad Yunus). I could not be more grateful to our team for making it happen and to be able to present you what we have created.
— Maria Ploumaki Bigler
Meet the people who made this book possible, from creating the illustrations and ensuring the science is written correctly to improvising and playing a piece on the piano.
Mateya Arkova, Illustrator
Mateya Arkova is an illustrator from Sofia, Bulgaria with a Bachelor in Book Publishing and Master of Arts (M.A) in Graphic Design. “My intentions in illustrating a story is to feel the movement in every object as you are in the middle of this story, feeling everything is alive around you like the story told is the symbolic wind going through each page, illuminating its secrets. I adore stories with magical flare and ones that bring you knowledge and wisdom in a way”.
Scientific Advisors
The precision of this book is thanks to the input from our scientific advisors. They have generously offered their time and knowledge in order to inspire young children to learn about the world of science.
Nas Ploumakis, PhD
Nas is Senior Scientist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Department of Pathology and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Nas read his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Oxford University and his PhD at the University of Birmingham, followed by a Postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University and the Broad Institute.
Scott Bigler, PhD
Scott is a mechanical engineer by training with a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and a PhD in Engineering from Cambridge University. He works for the Sauber F1 Team in Switzerland as the Vehicle Modeling Group Leader.
Theodor Lundberg, PhD
Theodor completed his PhD in Physics at the University of Cambridge where he worked towards silicon-based quantum computing. Prior to his PhD, Theodor completed a Master of Research in Nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Copenhagen.
Listen to "Every Time You Open a Book" in piano
Listen to "Every Time You Open a Book" in piano
Photograph by Jacques Philippet.
Pianist François-Xavier Poizat improvised for the book and played in piano the piece “Every Time You Open a Book”.
Born in 1989 with Swiss, French and Chinese origins, pianist François-Xavier Poizat graduated from the Geneva and Hamburg Conservatory, from the Juilliard School in New York, and from the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome with the teaching of Alexeï Golovin, Evgeni Koroliov, and Benedetto Lupo. It is Martha Argerich who propelled him onto the international stage by inviting him when he was 12 years old to the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. This marked the beginning of a career that has brought him to perform in already 28 countries in venues like the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Tonhalle in Zürich, the Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin, the Seoul Art Center, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and the Carnegie Hall in New York.
Book Credits
Copyright © 2023 Avriano GmbH.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted, reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system in any form, or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying, scanning, audio and video recording without prior written permission from the author and publisher.
Scene with Dr. Edwin Hubble: Watercolor illustration drawing inspired by the original image (photograph by unidentified photographer), courtesy Edwin Hubble Papers, Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Scene with Dr. Maurice Hilleman: Watercolor illustration drawing inspired by the original image of Dr. Hilleman holding a Petri dish, courtesy Hilleman family.
Schweizer Buchhändler und Verleger-Verband (SBVV) Hardcover: 978-3-907473-01-6 Paperback: 978-3-907473-00-9 Ebook: 978-3-907473-02-3
First edition, December 2023.
Published in Zurich, Switzerland, by Avriano GmbH, Asylstrasse 77, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
Rhymed story written by Maria Ploumaki Bigler.
Scientific contributions by Dr. Robert S. Bigler (PhD Engineering University of Cambridge, BSc Mechanical Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Dr. Athanasios Ploumakis (Postdoctoral Research Fellow Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute, PhD Molecular Biology of Cancer University of Birmingham, MBiochem University of Oxford) and Dr. Theodor Lundberg (PhD Physics University of Cambridge, MRes Nanoscience and Nanotechnology University of Cambridge, BSc Physics University of Copenhagen).
The artwork in this book has been created by Mateya Arkova handmade traditionally in aquarelle and then processed digitally. Book design by Maria Ploumaki Bigler. Book formatting by Bogdan Matei.
Music improvisation, piano “Every time you open a book” by François-Xavier Poizat. Audio and video recording by Willimann Production & Music.