A hunky sheep farmer from the town Gavin and Stacey was based has landed a top scientific prize after making a fascinating discovery about shrimp.
Ben Palmer was awarded a whopping £75,000 for his research.
The 39-year-old realised the popular seafood creature can manipulate light to form crystals.
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He scooped the eminent Blavatnik Family Foundation prize fund, which recognises boffins under the age of 42 for groundbreaking research.
Ben’s find led to the discovery of an organic material that can be used in any whitening products, such as teeth whiteners, food colouring, sunscreens and paint.
It provides an organic – and more environmentally friendly – alternative to the chemicals and man made substances currently used in many products, in what is a £25bn dollar industry.
Ben, of Barry, South Wales, where the hit sitcom was set, spends half his time in Crymych, Pembrokeshire, where he tends to a flock of thousands of sheep, owned by his in laws
He lives the rest of time in Israel, where he works as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Ben Gurion University, as reported on What’s The Jam.
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Ben said: “Barry isn’t exactly known for producing scientists, it’s quite funny that I’ve ended up here.”
The married dad-of-one, who has a PhD in crystallography, added: “Guanine, the dna substance produced by fish to make their scales shiny, has been known about for a long time and used in various creatures in the animal kingdom.
“I wasn’t looking for a new material, I was just interested in looking at creatures who use guanine to make crystals.
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“The award was given for two reasons – the discovery of materials, and the research on the mechanisms that use them, which has opened up a new sub-genre of biochemistry.
“We saw that shrimp manipulate light to make different shapes out of crystals. The shape dictates its optical qualities. It is a bit like how light reflects from a gemstone or a soap bubble – they reflect differently.
“In Israel, science is really respected and there is far more room to research subjects just from a pure interest point of view.
“I wanted to study how shrimp manipulate light to form crystals, but never intended on discovering a material that can be used in whitening products.
“There is far more scope for scientific research, which then leads to unexpected discoveries like this. In the UK, there isn’t really the investment or funding for that.”
Smithy – played by James Corden – in Gavin and Stacey famously placed an order of chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna, prawn bhuna, mushroom rice, bag of chips, keema naan and nine poppadoms in the show.
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