Conferences  >  Didactics, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology  >  Public Lectures and Outreach

UC Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP)

Carl Sagan is famous for saying that there are more stars in our Universe than there are grains of sand covering the world’s beaches. What Sagan didn’t say is that a single grain of sand has more electrons than stars in the Universe. What do these many electrons do in a crystal? They form a quantum universe. In this conference, we will explore the confluence of recent exciting developments on this many-electron world in crystals.

This Teachers’ Conference, to be held in coordination with a week-long KITP conference entitled “Topology, Symmetry and Interactions in Crystals: Emerging Concepts and Unifying Themes,” will catalyze conversations on this prototype topic of quantum physics and how to bring it to the classrooms.

Didactics of Scientific Disciplines,    Cryptography, Blockchain and Information Security

CIRM – Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques

L’école de mathématiques « Les Cigales » a pour vocation de développer l’attractivité des matières mathématiques auprès des jeunes filles afin, au final, de parvenir à plus de parité dans les métiers techniques et scientifiques. Cette école est particulièrement soutenue par la vice-présidence égalité femmes-hommes et lutte contre les discriminations d’Aix-Marseille Université. Durant 5 jours, les lycéennes vont découvrir que les mathématiques sont partout et surtout qu’elles sont accessibles à la plupart des personnes, aux filles comme aux garçons.

Institute of Physics (IOP)

As in every other enterprise of exploration, Science can be quite a risky business. Some of the most dangerous experiments ever performed — like the Trinity test, with controlled fusion, with the Large Hadron Collider close to creating black holes, at the Extreme Light Infrastructure on the verge of tearing out space time — are within the realm of Physics (experiments in biology and/or with people can also be notoriously nasty). Dr Khechara and his team, who regularly go where nobody went before, will give an overview of some of the most dangerously mad experiments ever performed and will actually proceed to bring some of them on stage, putting themselves at risk against the elements of nature, in a fight against electricity, radioactivity, gravity, chemistry, light and matter - all in under one hour.

The Warburg Institute

Geography, Cartography,    History & Archaeology

The Cambridge Seminars in the History of Cartography

A lecture by Martijn Storms (Leiden University Libraries)

Geography, Cartography,    History & Archaeology

IOP Yorkshire Branch, Sheffield Centre

An overview of the technology behind ESS, the science challenges and safety and radioactive waste management shall be presented in this seminar.

Institute of Physics (IOP)

If you’re a physics-powered business, researching or developing innovative new products, processes or services, then join us to learn more about how you might be able to benefit from R&D tax credits. Even if you are familiar with this scheme, there have been a lot of changes and more to come.

Bibliothèque nationale de France

A lecture by Isabelle Warmoes, ingénieure d’études, musée des Plans-reliefs. Dans le cadre du nouveau cycle de conférences autour de l’histoire de la cartographie de l’Antiquité à nos jours, cette séance s’intéresse aux rapports entre cartographie et art militaire du XVIIe au XIXe siècle.

Entrée gratuite – Réservation conseillée

Geography, Cartography,    History & Archaeology

Institute of Physics (IOP)

One could say that the universe is both very simple and very complicated. It is very simple in the sense that we know of basic fundamental laws and principles that rule its behaviour, from particles to the cosmos as a whole, in an incredible amount of detail. Mass, for instance, one of the key concepts in physics, arises from the so-called Higgs mechanism of breaking the symmetry of a field that becomes nonzero due to its Mexican hat potential. Yet it is complicated because as consequences of such physical laws we are faced with mysteries such as most of the universe consisting of dark matter and dark energy, which are there in the theory to account for what we see, but that is not in plain sight when we look up in the sky. In this final talk of the Wolverhampton lecture series, Professor Nikolopoulos, one of the physicists who discovered the Higgs boson, will discuss the origin of mass in the universe and what we currently know about dark matter.

Institute of Physics (IOP)

The UK is blessed with a significant tidal energy resource. Often it is the vertical rise and fall of the water that is both best understood and envisaged to be harnessed as a source of energy. In fact regions between high and low waters can, under the right conditions, be subjected to significant horizontal tidal streams or currents such that thrust forces per unit area are tens of times greater than the strongest winds. Harnessing this kinetic energy in our tides has been the subject of more significant research and development over the past 4 decades. In recent years the technology has both made great strides forth and also stagnated due to a number of issues. Most recently it appears that free stream tidal energy might have a further chance to prove itself and work towards generating a significant amount of (completely predictable) electricity to the electrical grid. This talk will cover the technology development & operational issues of freestream tidal energy and give a frank and open appraisal of the barriers to mass deployment.

Ecosystems, Environment and Sustainable Development,    Conventional and Renewable Energy Production

UKAN+ Aeroacoustics SIG

The Aeroacoustics SIG is happy to welcome Dr Zhong-Nan Wang to present a webinar on Installed Jet Noise. The webinar will be held on the 17th of May, 1300.

Jet noise can be significantly amplified when placed close to a solid surface. This scenario occurs when a jet engine is installed near an aircraft wing. The pursuit of higher propulsion efficiency is achieved as ever by enlarging the engine bypass ratio, leading to an increasing engine diameter. The engine becomes even closer to the wing, leading to significant interactions between them and hence noise amplification. This talk will be focused on providing insight into the noise sources of closely installed jets based on high-fidelity eddy-resolving simulation and its associated data-driven analysis, from canonical to industrially relevant cases. Control strategies are further explored based on understanding noise sources to better reduce noise at the source.

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Join the University of Hatfield's Professor Alan Davies as he explores that branch of physics known as surface science. Using live demonstrations, and drawing upon everyday exmaples, Prof Davies will explain: "What happens when materials rub against each other?"

The Warburg Institute

Geography, Cartography,    History & Archaeology

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Organised by IOP Scotland, the 48th Stirling Physics Teachers’ Meeting is open to all, whether you are a teacher, or just have an interest in the topic. The theme of the 2023 conference is ‘Making the most of Physics Education Research in your classroom’. To maximise the benefit of this in-person conference, in addition to keynote talks there will be a choice of practical workshops and smaller seminar sessions. There will also be networking time and exhibitions as in previous years.

Didactics of Scientific Disciplines,    Education

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Physicists take for granted universality of the laws of physics—the laws of thermodynamics, gravity and quantum mechanics work just as well in Mumbai as they do in London, and for that matter—we believe— in the Andromeda galaxy. But are there universal laws in biology? Evolutionary biologist, Theodosius Dobzhansky declared that “Nothing in Biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution”. But surely, life is too contingent, context dependence, and just too messy to be described simply by the laws of evolution — and just "What is life?" anyway, as Schrodinger famously pondered.

Join Dr Bhavin Khatri who will explore these questions and how concepts from physics—of emergence and entropy—are changing our understanding of evolution from the, much used and abused, simple picture of “survival of the fittest”.

History and Philosophy of Science and Technology,    Biophysics, Medical Physics

Institute of Physics (IOP)

The Sun bathes the Earth in light but also in a stream of charged particles traveling at over 1.8 million mph. As these particles reach Earth, they collide with Earth’s magnetic field, getting captured and trapped in the space around us.

Dr. Forsyth will explain how this stream of particles results in the aurora, Van Allen belts and what stops such ‘space weather’ negatively impacting our lives

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology,    Geophysics and Geology

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Join us for the first UK meeting entirely dedicated to Gallium Oxide materials and devices. Gallium oxide has emerged as a promising ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor bringing a transformation of the power electronics and ultraviolet optoelectronics landscape. This one-day meeting aims to explore the new advances to the fields, from fundamental science, to growth and characterisation, to device study and future applications. Researchers from both academia and industry are invited to participate in this one-day meeting. With an exciting line-up of invited speakers, the aim is to review the latest developments in the field and generate opportunities for collaborations.

Semiconductors,    Photonics, Optoelectronics and Display Devices

European Molecular Biology Laboratory | EMBL

Biology,    History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Dr Sadie Jones, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton will discuss the mysterious behaviour of Active Galactic Nucleui (AGN) NGC 4051 which was the subject of her PhD research. She will specifically focus on the simultaneous Radio and X-ray data analysis she did and then end with some discussion of how the first direct image of a black hole was produced using a combination of radio interferometry and computing expertise.

Banff International Research Station (BIRS) / UBCO

Geometry is all around us. The circles and triangles of the Ancient Greeks have never left us. Film, art, and architecture ha ve all been touched by mathematics and geometry. 3D printing, robotics, and origami are a new wave of geometry. At Geometry: Education, Art, and Research, leading researchers pair up with educations and artists to push the boundaries of contemporary geometry.

Geometry and Topology,    History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

CIRM – Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques

The International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS)

Mary Somerville (1780-1872) was an eminent Scottish scientist of the 19th century. She made important contributions in mathematics and astronomy, such as her paper 'On the magnetizing power of the more refrangible solar rays' in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1826. She was one of the first two women to be elected to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1835 (the other was Caroline Herschel). Her outstanding science was inextricable from her powers of exposition as might be seen in her beautiful book On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834), a best-seller that went through many editions and is often regarded as the first 'popular science' book. Remarkably, the third edition of the book (1836) and subsequent ones contained a discussion, based on tables of observation, about the possibility of an unknown planet perturbing Uranus. This led to the subsequent precise prediction of the position of Neptune by John Couch Adams in 1845. This lecture series for the general public on high-level topics at the interface of mathematics and other domains of inquiry commemorates the work and life of Mary Somerville. 

CIRM – Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques