department of physics and astronomy
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY. Professor Bob Warwick Head of Department. Astrophysics & Space Science Research at Leicester. First sounding rocket experiment – 1961 Development of an internationally competitive research programme in: X-ray Astronomy - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
Professor Bob Warwick
Head of Department
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Astrophysics & Space Science Research at Leicester
• First sounding rocket experiment – 1961
• Development of an internationally competitive research programme
in: X-ray Astronomy
• Involvement in highly successful missions such as: Ariel V, Einstein, EXOSAT, Ginga, ROSAT, Chandra, XMM
• Parallel Developments in: Radio & Space Plasma Physics, Theoretical Astrophysics
• The Queen’s Anniversary Prize 1994
“A world-class teaching, research and consultancy programme in astronomy, space and planetary science”
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Astrophysics & Space Science Cont.
• Purpose-built Space Research Centre (SRC) opened in 1998
• Second phase of SRC building opened 2002
Department of Physics and Astronomy
ASTRONOMY, ASTROPHYSICS & SPACE SCIENCE RESEARCH IN THE
DEPARTMENT
• Theoretical Astrophysics Group
• Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group
• X-ray and Observational Astronomy Group
• Space Research Group
(Instrumentation, Earth Observation Science, Space Projects)
Department of Physics and Astronomy
The Scale of the PPARC Programme at Leicester
Academic staff engaged on PPARC programmes 20New academic posts 7
SRIF2: SRIF2: Computing/Instrumentation Computing/Instrumentation £1.7 million £1.7 million
Research staff engaged on PPARC programmes 60Clerical /Technical Support Staff 20
26 PPARC grants £17.7 million
Postgraduate students 30
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Major PPARC Research Projects in the Department
• EPIC instrument on XMM-Newton (ESA PI)
• XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (ESA PI)
• HF Radar, SPEAR on Svalbard
• Host of UKAFF Supercomputer
• Major role in AstroGrid (e-science)
• Instruments for Swift, JWST and Bepi-Columbo
The Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group’s new SPEAR (Space Plasma Exploration by Active Radar) facility on
Svalbard.
Wave-wave interactions stimulated by SPEAR
Beagle 2 Instrument
Development in the SRC
PLANETARY EXPLORATION Cassini at Saturn
BepiColombo at Mercury
Department of Physics and Astronomy
A Neutron Star/Black Hole Encounter
Accreting Black-holes in the Nearby Galaxy M101
OPTICAL X-RAY
Subaru /XMM-Newton Deep Field
OPTICAL X-RAY