Press Release prepared for BAAS meeting in Plymouth August 1991
BUBBLES, QUARKS AND EXPLODING STARS:
PHYSICS AT SCIENCE 91
The world around us is governed by natural laws. Understanding how the world works is the universal role of physics. It is an exciting and challenging subject which also has many useful applications and can help to improve our lives. Some of the great variety and scope of the subject will be presented during SCIENCE 91 in a stimulating and entertaining programme aimed at the non-specialist. There should be something for the most lay layman, for the distinguished professor, for the young and the not so young.
This variety is very evident on Tuesday, the first full day. We start the morning with a talk on "Soap bubbles" by Dr Cyril Isenberg, a speaker well known to school and other audiences. All of us have blown soap bubbles, but perhaps we don't realise that research on bubbles and films is still being conducted by various scientists. Dr. Bill Vennart in "Looking inside the body" will describe how, by using physics techniques, doctors can examine our organs non-invasively, in other words without damaging or hurting us. Dr. Pedro Waloschek's talk "Quark jigsaws" will show, using very simple ideas, that everything in the universe is constructed from just a few building blocks.
The theme is reinforced in the afternoon when the Physics President, Professor Peter Kalmus in "The forces of nature". will talk about gravity and the other fundamental forces. Up till recently it was assumed that there were four (perhaps even five?) distinct forces which are responsible for all the phenomena in the world, but recent experiments have shown that these have been reduced to three. After tea there are talks by Professor Keith Runcorn and Dr. David Edwards about the famous physicist Sir James Chadwick, the discoverer of the neutron, who was born just 100 years ago.
Physics can be beautiful as well as interesting. Come and see the "Beauty of Physics" photographic exhibition and the launch of the 1991 Competition for new photos, and find out how you might win a prize. At 5 pm come to the Physics and Mathematics Mixer, where over a glass of wine the young and old can mix, talk to each other, and meet the speakers.
The Wednesday programme is a complete contrast. There will be a session cutting right across the various sciences. "From Particles to People" is a scientific history of the world. Starting with the Big Bang — the creation of the universe, we finally get to Man, in six easy lectures by distinguished speakers covering physics, cosmology, astronomy, geology, chemistry and biology. Professor Martin Rees kicks off followed by Professor Michael Rowan-Robinson. They will take us from the first microsecond of the universe, or even earlier, to the formation of galaxies and the creation of the chemical elements. Professor Keith Runcorn will then cover the Earth's evolution, from its accretion in the early solar system to the present time.
Carbon plays an essential role in chemistry, and particularly the chemistry of life. Recently quite new forms of carbon, shaped like footballs, have been found and have completely changed our understanding of how microparticles can be formed on Earth and in astronomical sites. This will be described in the afternoon by the discoverer, Professor Harry Kroto. This then leads to biology, where the possible nature of first living organisms are discussed by Dr. Graham Cairns-Smith, and the final talk by Professor Lewis Wolpert takes us the final step from cells to embryos and man.
Thursday morning is devoted to super science. Superconductors have fascinating properties, not only the ability to carry currents for ever without resistance. Recently this work has moved from the ultracold to less extreme temperatures, and this will be described by Dr. Bill David. The news of the supernova, an exploding star in our neighbouring galaxy, reached the Earth in 1987. Dr. Paul Murdin will show that we have learned a lot of physics and astronomy from this one event. At the end of the morning, in "Superstrings", Professor Michael Green will show how this branch of physics may play a key role in unifying all the physical forces and elementary particles as well as elucidating the structure of space and time. In complete contrast, in the afternoon Dr. Mike Gluyas will give his highly popular lecture "Musical Squares" — with many audio-visual demonstrations. This talk has been seen by tens of thousands of school pupils, and is recommended for people aged 8 to 80. There is also a session showing that optics can improve the quality of life in a variety of ways — in communications, medicine, opthalmology and many other areas.
On Friday morning, Kate Bellingham of BBC TV's "Tomorrow's World" will introduce a session on "Developing the World with Physics" a session organised by the Institute of Physics Public Affairs Department. Drs Bob Fox, Andrew Brown and Bruce King will show how physics research can help the global effort needed for the developing world to confront its major problems. The topics include unlocking natural and human resources, producing cheap water power and using space technology to predict droughts and assess renewable resources.
This full and varied programme had to be planned some months ago. However we were able to slip in at short notice a topic which has caused some controversy in national science planning. At the beginning of this year, the Science and Engineering Research Council decided that it will close its Nuclear Structure Facility at Daresbury in order to save money. This was at a time when significant discoveries had just been made there. Professor John Sharpey-Schafer's talk on "Spinning nuclei into exotic shapes" will describe this work on Monday afternoon at 2 pm.
All week there will be an exhibition from CERN the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. This highly professional display will show that in order to study the smallest things in the universe we require the largest equipment including a particle accelerator which is 17 miles in circumference. This is achieved in a remarkable laboratory, supported by 16 European countries including the UK, which physically crosses the international border between Switzerland and France, and which is used by many UK groups of researchers.
If you are interested, pick up a yellow Physics Programme at the SCIENCE 91 Office. This will list all the topics and speakers and give the times and locations of all physics events. You will find that physics can be fun and is not difficult.
Peter I. P. Kalmus President of the Physics Section at SCIENCE 91.
The Author of this article is
Professor Peter I. P. Kalmus
President of the Physics Section at SCIENCE 91.
Professor of Physics at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. He has carried out research in elementary particle physics using accelerators in the USA, the UK, Germany and at CERN. He is author or coauthor of about 150 scientific papers, and in 1988 was awarded the Rutherford Medal and Prize for his contributions to the discovery of the W and Z particles, a discovery which showed that there were only 3, not 4, fundamental forces in nature. He is a well known lecturer and broadcaster.
Further details of Physics programme can be obtained from the above at
Physics Department
Queen Mary and Westfield College
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS
Phone 071 975 5042 Direct line
Fax 081 981 9456
Electronic mail JANET ".V1"
Peter Kalmus will be at Plymouth from Sunday morning 25 August to Friday noon 30 August and can be contacted via the SCIENCE 91 Office or the BAAS SCIENCE 91 Press Office
Here are a few details of the speakers in the Physics section of SCIENCE 91
Dr. Cyril Isenberg ("The science of soap films and soap bubbles")
Physicist. University of Kent. Has given numerous lectures on soap bubbles and other topics to schools and a variety of other audiences. He is the UK organiser of the Physics Olympiad — a national and international competition to find the best school students in physics.
Dr William Vennart ("Looking inside the body")
Physicist. University of Exeter. Research interests include medical physics and in particular medical magnetic resonance imaging. A well known lecturer on the subject.
Dr. Pedro Waloschek ("Quark jigsaws")
A physicist at DESY ( the German High Energy Physics Laboratory in Hamburg). He collaborates in an international group which includes UK physicists. Has given numerous lectures to children and adults on aspects of particle physics.
Professor Peter Kalmus ("The forces of nature")
Physicist. Queen Mary and Westfield College, London. (see separate note)
Professor Keith Runcorn ("The Earth's evolution", "Impressions of James Chadwick")
Geophysicist and Planetary Scientist. Retired from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Now Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College London and at the University of Alaska
Dr. David Edwards ("Life and work of James Chadwick")
Physicist. University of Liverpool. Research in particle physics. Has studied the life and work of Sir James Chadwick, who had also been in the same university department.
Professor Martin Rees ("Did our complex cosmos emerge from a simple big bang?")
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. Well known cosmologist and astronomer, who has written books and given many talks.
Professor Michael Rowan Robinson ("Protogalaxies, great walls and planet Earth")
Astronomer. Queen Mary and Westfield College, London. Research in astronomy and cosmology. Has written several popular books. Has recently been on TV, radio and in the newspapers because of his recent discoveries.
Professor Harold Kroto ("Carbon chemistry in flames, stars and supernovae")
Chemist. University of Sussex. Discoverer of "Buckminsterfullerene" the new molecule consisting of 60 carbon atoms arranged like a football or the geodesic domes built by American architect Buckminster Fuller. Well known for giving popular lectures.
Dr Graham Cairns-Smith ("The first organisms")
Chemist. University of Glasgow. Has studied the origin of life on Earth, has written 3 books and has lectured widely in the UK and abroad.
Professor Lewis Wolpert ("From cells to embryos, the evolution of development")
Biologist. University College London. Research in developmental biology of embryos. Well known broadcaster and populariser of science.
Dr. William David ("Superconductors")
Crystallographer. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. An expert on finding the structure of the new high temperature superconducting materials. Has lectured extensively on this subject..
Dr. Paul Murdin ("Supernova")
Director of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. Well known astronomer, lecturer and broadcaster Has written a popular book on the supernova of 1987.
Professor Michael Green ("Superstrings")
Physicist. Queen Mary and Westfield College, London. Inventor of superstrings. A theoretical idea which regards elementary particles as vibrations of strings, and which may one day unify all of nature's forces and elementary particles. Well known broadcaster on this subject.
Dr. Michael Gluyas ("Musical squares : adventures in sound"
Physicist. University of Salford. Gave the Institute of Physics Schools lectures to many thousand people all over the UK last year, and will repeat it at Science 91. With many audiovisual attractions. Assisted by Wendy Gluyas.
Dr Bob Fox ("Physics for life')
College of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth
Mr Andrew Brown ("Falling water, raising standards: energy from hydro power')
Intermediate Technology Development Group
Dr. Bruce King ("Space technology for sustainable development on Earth")
Natural Resources Institute, ODA
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