School of Physics and Astronomy

Write here, write now

Marcus Chown

6:00 pm Thursday May 2011
Physics Lecture Theatre, GO Jones (Physics) Building, Mile End

From having a peanut butter sandwich coughed over him on his first day as a journalist to lecturing to an audience of half a person; from performing on a glass-bottomed boat in a shark tank to demonstrating gravity on TV with a bucket of maggots. Come and hear Marcus Chown, ex-Queen Mary student and author, talk about how he got from Mile End Road to where he is right now. Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Currently, cosmology consultant of "New Scientist", he has written a number of books, including "We Need to Talk About Kelvin" (short-listed for the 2010 Science Book Prize), "Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You" and "Felicity Frobisher and the Three-Headed Aldebaran Dust Devil". His most recent project is "Solar System for iPad", which was the Apple Store's iPad App of the Week. Lecture booking form.
 

Dislocation Nucleation and Dynamics in Silicon: Size Effects

Professor Bill Gerberich

11:00 am Thursday 23rd September 2010
Arts Lecture Theatre, Arts Building, Mile End

Professor William W. Gerberich, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minneapolis, has been honoured for his major contributions to the field of mechanical behaviour of materials and his mentoring of students for over 35 years.

Talk Abstract: Recently discovered behaviour of dependent flow characteristics of initially defect free single nanocrystals allows heretofore unavailable insight. The study involves in-situ transmission electron microscopy of single-crystal silicon nanopillars and nanospheres. First, surface mediated dislocation nucleation can be identified. Second, we demonstrate an experimental dislocation dynamics relationship from direct measurements of dislocation velocities. With both molecular dynamics and experimental measurements of activation volumes, these lead to a phenomenological relationship for both yield strength and work hardening. While this may be mostly applicable to initially low density crystal structures, it is suggested as a route for more multi-scale modeling approaches to follow, using discretized dislocation density analysis. From the dislocation nucleaton and their velocities, key parameters are measured. With these, the modeling ensues. The implication is that both strain-rate and length scale effects on flow characteristics can be accounted for in a model with testable parameters.
 

Aeons of Time: Some New Developments in Cosmology

Professor Sir Roger Penrose

5.30 pm Wednesday 5th May 2010
Draper's Lecture Theatre, Geography building, Mile End

Sir Roger Penrose, OM, FRS is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, and famous for diverse and highly influential contributions to mathematics and physics. He has made many contributions to general relativity and cosmology, and this lecture will build on these. Prof. Penrose also invented twistor theory in 1967, which in particular provides a beautiful description of massless particles. Recent research has uncovered profound new links between twistor theory, gauge theory, gravity and string theory, and Professor Penrose is visiting Queen Mary from 4th-7th May to take part in a workshop on the latest developments in this field, hosted by the Centre for Research in String Theory.
 

The Energy Challenge

Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith

4.30 pm Friday 19 March 2010
Clinical Medicine Lecture Theatre, Francis Bancroft Building

Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith FRS is a distinguished theoretical physicist who has been Head of Physics at Oxford, Director General of CERN, Director of the Culham Fusion Laboratory and Chair of the Council of the ITER fusion project. He is now Chair of Council of SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East), and a Visiting Professor in Oxford.

The talk slides are available to download as a pdf file (9Mb).

Abstract:
Providing enough food, water and energy to allow all the world's rising population to live decent lives is an enormous challenge. Energy is a means, not an end, but it is a necessary means. In this talk, Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith will discuss the technical and political challenges of providing sufficient energy in the face of rising population, the threat of climate change, and the depletion of fossil fuels.