Astrophysics
20 November 2019
A new dawn in radio transient surveys
Observers from the ThunderKAT project, co-led by Professor Rob Fender at Oxford University and Professor Patrick Woudt at the University of Cape Town, have discovered the first of what promises to be a bumper harvest of variable and transient radio sources in images from the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.
Stargazing Oxford 2020
Stargazing Oxford returns on the 25th January 2020 from 2pm to 9pm (last entry 8.30pm)
Each year over 1,000 people of all ages gather at Stargazing Oxford as they seek to explore the wonders of the Universe. Join us again for a space-themed open day in the Department of Physics. Activities include talks, hands-on stalls and observing (night-sky, solar and radio).
public.events@physics.ox.ac.uk
To join our mailing list to hear about all of our public events visit here: https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/my-forms/email-list
10 October 2019
This year's Nobel Prize
As James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz are announced as the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in physics, we look at the significance of their work.
The 2019 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to James Peebles for his theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology and to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for their discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.
The 19th Hintze Lecture: Professor Heino Falcke
The First Image of a Black Hole
Thursday 14 November 2019 at 17:30 (to be seated by 17:20)
Tanya Gujral, tanya.gujral@physics.ox.ac.uk
Professor Andrea Ghez
Professor Andrea Ghez, UCLA
Our Galactic Center: A Unique Laboratory for the Physics & Astrophysics of Black Holes
SETI Institute - An introduction to the research & education programs of SETI
Celebrating its 35th year in 2019, the SETI Institute, founded by Astronomers Carl Sagan, Jill Tarter and Frank Drake, has grown from a small research team focused on searching for radio signals beyond our solar system (as a proxy for intelligent civilizations) to an organization of over 90 PhD scientists representing 23 different academic backgrounds, organized into 6 divisions of research. CEO, Bill Diamond, will describe the multidisciplinary structure and research of the Institute, whose mission is to explore, understand and explain the nature and origins of life in the universe.
Finance & Physicists Lecture
Finance might appear to be a world away from physics and hence from your life. However, whether you take not of it or not, your daily life is governed by markets. Finance is ultimately the study of markets, specifically seen through a financial lens and the understanding of these has ramifications for everything from how much we are paid to where we live and what is available in the supermarket.
Physics Colloquia: The hydrodynamic black hole
All are welcome to this colloquium delivered by Dr Silke Weinfurtner, Royal Society University Research Fellow, Faculty of Science, University of Nottingham
15 April 2019
Oxford scientists unlock the properties of turbulence
Our world and the whole Universe is full of turbulent fluids, usually in the plasma state. Most people are familiar with the notion of turbulence. Whether it is the chaotic swirls that appear as you add milk to your coffee or tea or the unpredictable motions of the atmosphere all too familiar to frequent fliers. However, despite this ubiquity, it is exceptionally hard to pin down in precise mathematical terms, with current theories either derived empirically or through dimensional analysis.
12 April 2019
Dr Becky Smethurst Discusses New Black Hole Image on Channel 4 News
Dr Becky Smethurst, Junior Research Fellow in Astrophysics at Christ Church, has been speaking in the media about the new image of a black hole at the centre of the galaxy M87, released on 10th April.
