Public Events – Spring 2017

London & South East Branch

June 2017Milton Keynes •Tuesday 13 June 7.30pm • Dr Jim Geach

The formation and evolution of galaxies: a 14 billion year storyI will discuss the state of the art of our understanding of how hundreds of billions of galaxies, of which our own Milky Way is but one, came to be.

InformationAll our lectures are free to all and last about one hour. There is usually 10–15 minutes afterwards for the audience to ask questions. School parties are most welcome but please register numbers beforehand with the relevant venue organiser. All venues are wheelchair accessible. Details herein are subject to possible alteration. Any views expressed here are not necessarily those of the IOP.

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Lecture venue information and times are as follows:

LondonLectures held at 6.30pm, Franklin Room, Institute of Physics, 80 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT. Refreshments are served from 6pm on the day of the lecture. Please register online to attend lectures. For further information, email lee.crouch@iop.org or tel +44 (0)20 7470 4938.

HertsLectures usually held at 7pm in the Lindop Building, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB. To book a place or for further information on this season’s events, please contact Dr Diane Crann (email d.crann@herts.ac.uk, tel +44 (0)7770 444614).

KentUnless stated otherwise, lectures held at 7.30pm in Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NZ. Further information can be obtained from Dr Cyril Isenberg (email c.isenberg@kent.ac.uk, tel +44 (0)1227 823768).

Milton KeynesLectures held at 7.30pm in the Berrill Lecture Theatre, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA. For further information, contact Professor Ray Mackintosh (email raymond.mackintosh@open.ac.uk). No need to register.

Milton Keynes • Tuesday 18 April 7.30pm • Dr Manish Patel

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission to Mars and the search for signs of lifeOn Earth, most of the methane in the atmosphere is produced by life. Hence its presence on Mars opens up a tantalising possibility that this trace gas may be a sign of the presence of life on that planet. The Open University co-leads one of the methane hunting instruments (called NOMAD), and has significant science roles in the Schiaparelli lander that will land on the surface of Mars. I will present the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission to Mars, and its background, and give an update on its latest status and the results to date from the orbiter and the lander.

Herts • Wednesday 26 April 7pm • Dr Chris Woolston

What is this thing called quantum theory? A chemist’s perspectiveQuantum theory is one of the great foundations of modern physics. It also provides the basis for our understanding of chemical bonding and, hence, all of modern chemistry. In this talk Chris will outline the development of quantum theory from the time of Newton onwards.

May 2017Milton Keynes • Tuesday 9 May 7.30pm • Dr Jonathan Hays

News from the LHCThe Large Hadron Collider at CERN has recently been upgraded, and the accelerator and particle detectors have both been improved. The beam energy has nearly doubled compared with the previous run. New results will be presented on the search for signs of physics beyond the Standard Model.

London • Wednesday 17 May 6.30pm • Professor Lloyd Peck

Surviving Antarctic extremesThis talk investigates the physics of the problems faced by humans and other animals in surviving in the coldest, driest, windiest places on Earth, and the solutions they have to those problems.

Herts • Wednesday 31 May 7pm • Professor Alan Davies

Sewage pipes and glass corridors: the mouhefanggaiPlease see the London lecture on Wednesday 1 February.

London • Wednesday 31 May 6.30pm • Professor Didier Queloz

Exoplanets and the nature of other worldsThe discovery of exoplanets sparked a revolution in astronomy and captured our imagination. Today, about 1,000 such objects have been found. We have learned that planets are common, and that their properties are much more diverse than originally predicted. Their nature remains mysterious. Our solar system is just one solution to nature’s problem of making planets. This talk will present the main results of exoplanet work.

January 2017Kent • Tuesday 17 January 7.30pm • Professor Jon Butterworth

Smashing physics: latest news from the energy frontierWhat have we learned from the ATLAS and CMS experiments, in addition to the discovery of the Higgs boson, at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN?

Herts • Wednesday 25 January 7pm • David Freeman

Wax lyricalThe transmission of most of our data is digital these days, but we are still an analogue life form. Newspapers and books arrive as digital files but have to be converted into something our analogue eyes can understand. It’s the same with music. This talk is about how sound waves were first captured on fragile spinning wax cylinders and how this beautiful simple technology evolved into shellac disc records.

Kent • Tuesday 31 January 7.30pm • Dr Silvia Ramos

Inside matterThe lecture will explain how X-rays, neutrons and muons are used to probe the structure of materials.

February 2017London • Wednesday 1 February 6.30pm • Professor Alan Davies

Sewage pipes and glass corridors: the mouhefanggaiWhat have intersecting sewer pipes and the glass corridors in the gardens of les Halles de Paris have in common? They both give rise to a common volume of intersection that the ancient Chinese called the mouhefanggai. Such volumes are nowadays evaluated using calculus, but the Chinese had an ingenious method based on slicing. We shall see how elementary school geometry can be used to find this volume together with the volumes of other interesting

shapes such as beach balls.

Milton Keynes • Tuesday 14 February 7.30pm • Dr Colin Snodgrass

Where next after Rosetta? Comets, asteroids, and some confused objects in betweenThe European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission has been a spectacular success, orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for two years, releasing the Philae lander, and finally descending to the surface of the nucleus itself. I’ll look back at some of the highlights of the mission, but also ahead to possible future missions that will continue ESA’s exploration of the small bodies of our solar system.

All free, all welcome! Please join our Facebook group facebook.com/ioplse

IOP London and South East Lecture ProgrammeKent • Tuesday 14 February 7.30pm • Professor Anthony Mann

Puzzles in maths and physicsThe talk will explore the role that paradoxes play in physics and mathematics, using a wide range of puzzles, illusions and paradoxes.

London • Wednesday 15 February 6.30pm • Professor Ellie Highwood

Global warming and climate change – what’s the difference?Global warming is a term used widely in the media as shorthand for climate change. Sometimes this can lead to misunderstandings as regional changes can be somewhat different. In this talk I will present the science behind climate change, going beyond global warming to discuss what we know and don’t know about the complex ways in which our climate system has changed, and what we can learn from projections into the future.

Herts • Wednesday 22 February 7pm • Stephen Pattison

The revolutionary potential of the Internet of ThingsPlease see the London and South East Branch website for further details.

March 2017London • Wednesday 1 March 6.30pm • Professor Anthony Barker

Magnetic stimulation of the brain – reaching the parts other stimulators cannot reach

Nerves carry signals around the body and can be electrically stimulated for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. However, the brain is difficult to stimulate because of the high electrical resistance of the skull. Magnetic stimulation uses large pulses of magnetic field to induce currents directly in the brain. A UK invention, the technique is now widely used throughout the world. Tony Barker will describe the history of the technique, its

physics principles, some clinical applications, and give a practical demonstration.

Milton Keynes • Tuesday 7 March 7.30pm • Professor Timothy Leighton

The acoustic bubble: carbon budgets; sound in space; dolphins; cold water cleaning and antimicrobial resistanceThis lecture covers research into the interactions between bubbles and sound fields, covering particular topics involving the climatically important gas exchange between atmosphere and ocean, the implications of bubbly ocean water to marine mammals that use sound, and the opportunities afforded by incorporating acoustical sensors onto probes launched to investigate other worlds in our solar system. It closes with recent data on the opportunities of bubble acoustics to investigate methods of cold water cleaning, and the implications of this for antimicrobial resistance.

Kent • Tuesday 7 March 7.30pm • Luke Herbert

Vitrectomy – tools, design and limitationsA vitrectomy is an eye operation in which the vitreous gel, an internal structure in the eye, is removed. It is used to treat retinal detachments and other retinal conditions. Luke Herbert is a vitrectomy surgeon. He will discuss the history of the subject, the equipment used and the future of the subject.

London • Wednesday 15 March 6.30pm • Garrod Musto

Euclid’s Elements and crop circle theoremsThis talk seeks to explore the books of Euclid’s Elements that focus on aspects of the geometry of circles, and how the phenomenon of crop circles can be explained using aspects of maths.

Kent • Tuesday 21 March 7.30pm • Professor Hugh Griffiths

Reflections on the history of radarRadar has a long and fascinating history, with some surprising twists and turns. The lecture will give an account of radar, from its first demonstrations and development in World War II to the present day.

Herts • Wednesday 29 March 7pm • Patrick Griffin

Crossrail – moving London forwardCrossrail will be an urban high-frequency metroservice and will run from Heathrow Airport and Reading in the west through the centre of London to Canary Wharf, Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east. The new line will connect 37 stations and will operate 24 trains an hour in each direction in the central underground section at peak time, offering faster, easier and direct ways to get into and across London.

April 2017London • Wednesday 5 April 6.30pm • Dr Kathryn Harkup

PoisonMany compounds we now consider to be poisons were once found on pharmacy shelves. Before the 20th century people often got better in spite of their doctors rather than because of them. This talk examines the chemistry behind four former medicines, and their effects on the body – with some killer case studies.