Nanogirl's Ponsonby office was broken into at 3am today by a man and a woman who stole a substantial amount of crucial equipment. Photos / Supplied
Nanogirl's Ponsonby office was broken into at 3am today by a man and a woman who stole a substantial amount of crucial equipment. Photos / Supplied
One of New Zealand's best known scientists - Nanogirl - has had her Auckland office ransacked overnight, with thieves caught on camera stealing valuable equipment for an upcoming tour.
The Ponsonby office of Dr Michelle Dickinson - better known as Nanogirl - was broken into at 3am today by a man and a woman who stole a substantial amount of crucial equipment to the business' theatre tour, including computer gear and cameras.
The thieves were caught on security camera, and Dickinson, who is also a Weekend Herald columnist, posted across her social media platforms in a bid to track them down and recover her equipment.
Last night this couple chose to visit our Nanogirl office in Ponsonby & take things important to our work. As a tiny social enterprise trying to do good in the world, being reunited with our property would be amazing so if you know these people could you ask them to give it back pic.twitter.com/aXtRXITUzj
"As a tiny social enterprise trying to do good in the world, being reunited with our property would be amazing so if you know these people could you ask them to give it back."
The theft has left Nanogirl's small team of staff scrambling to source the replacement technical scientific equipment necessary to their stage show.
Nanogirl co-founder Joe Davis said the business is scheduled to begin a national tour of New Zealand schools and communities in November, and the theft significantly hinders that, but they are determined to carry on.
"Yes I'm going to make sure it goes ahead," Davis said.
The thieves were caught on security camera, and Nanogirl's co-founder Dr Michelle Dickinson (pictured) took to social media to publicise their identities. Photo / File
"Last year's tour we engaged 50,000 children around New Zealand over the course of a month. So this is huge project for us. There's no way we're going to let the kids of New Zealand down.
"We have a small team, they work bloody hard, they donate a huge amount of their time to the cause as well, and they're now going to have to work doubly hard because someone felt they could steal from us."
Davis said they are hoping to retrieve the stolen equipment, as a month is not long enough to source replacements for the November tour.
"Our best hope is to recover everything that's been stolen, or as much as we can. The police have been fantastic so far. Our security cameras got some pretty good shots of the offenders. We're hoping that leads to a speedy conclusion. Fingers crossed we can get some of the stuff back but we're having to plan on worst-case scenario and figure out how we're going to make the tour happen."
The Nanogirl team was "pretty cross and shaken up" after the burglary, Davis said.
"Everyone's just deeply frustrated that people think it's okay to break in and steal and make our lives harder when we're doing everything we can to help children around New Zealand.
"The office is full of equipment that is critical to the show and finding a heap of it missing this morning certainly makes our life a lot harder."
"Honestly it's too early to put a [price] number on it. There's electronics, science equipment."
Police said inquiries into the Fitzroy St burglary are ongoing. Davis said the thieves jimmied open a small window to the Fitzroy St office with a crowbar to get inside.
"They come in and rifle through the entire office, they stole a wall clock for goodness sake," he said.
"They ripped a TV off the wall but didn't take it with them.
"I have no idea if it was targeted or opportunistic, I just know it makes a huge difference to our touring plans and we've got a month of hard slog ahead of us."
