News

David Sherrington, Wykeham Professor of Physics Emeritus has been elected as Chairman of the Academic Council of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC). He also serves as the Chairman of the Physics Division .

EURASC is a non-profit non-governmental, independent organisation of the most distinguished scholars and engineers performing forefront research and the development of advanced technologies, united by a commitment to promoting science and technology and their essential roles in fostering social and economic development.

The first observation of a cosmic effect could give astronomers a new tool for understanding the forces behind the Universe's formation and growth, including the enigmatic phenomena of dark energy and dark matter.

An international team led by Princeton University, and including Oxford University scientists, has detected the movement of distant galaxy clusters via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect, which has never before been seen.

To find the kSZ effect, the researchers combined data from the ACT and BOSS projects.

Dr Kevin O'Keeffe was awarded the Cavendish Medal for the excellence of his research at the "SET for Britain" poster competition held on 12th March in the House of Commons.

In an article highlighted on the home page of the Physical Review Letters web site, Roger Johnson and co-workers report the highest magnetically-induced ferroelectric polarisation ever observed in a multiferroic, bringing these materials one step closer to applications in information technology. Magnetism and ferroelectricity are widely used properties to store digital information - for example in computer hard disks and chip-and-pin cards.