Summer 2012

Our latest Department newsletter is now available to download in PDF format here. Have a look at the wide range of work that we do in front-line research, teaching, public outreach and school education. We would welcome contributions to future newsletters from undergraduate or postgraduate alumni and previous members of the physics department.

In the first week of July members of the Biological Physics group, with colleagues from the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology at the University of Warwick, presented their research at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. The “Mini Motors” stand brought together their interests in biological nano-scale transport and spanned naturally occurring motors, such as kinesin and the bacterial flagellar motor, to building synthetic motors from DNA.

On Monday 2nd July, the Lindemann Theatre in the Clarendon Laboratory hosted the 'Horizon' BBC film crew, where Robert Taylor (Professor of Condensed Matter) and Marcus du Sautoy (Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics) filmed an episode that was all about temperature scales and the role of Lord Kelvin. They included demonstrations of the transition from normal to superfluid helium and the triple point of nitrogen.

Oxford University Computing Services' OxTALENT program has awarded First Prize in the Student IT Innovation category to Mihran Vardanyan for his development of the iCosmos cosmology calculator.

The IceCube telescope buried beneath the South Pole has failed to detect any high energy neutrinos accompanying exploding fireballs in space, undermining a leading theory of how cosmic rays are born (Nature 484:351,2012).

Physics has long been a male-dominated subject. To fulfil the department's scientific mission, it is vital that we use the full potential of the population and redress that imbalance. Since 2010, the department has been developing a portfolio of new and existing actions to improve the employment conditions and practice for all staff and students. Good practice benefits everyone, but disproportionately benefits women. These actions, and the critical assessment that led to them, are described in our application for an Athena Swan Silver Award.