Back in July, Clara Nellist and I were in a field (in a tent at the Latitude Festival) talking with Helen Czerski about particle physics, how it got here (and how we got there) and where it might be going. The recording was recently released by the organisers, the excellent Cosmic Shambles Network, and here it is.
Mr. Vernon was the maths teacher concerned, Wright Robinson High School circa 1984. So now you know.
Also available as podcast via the usual channels…
Particles from space have a long history of teaching us new physics, most recently recognised by the award of the Nobel Prize to Francis Halzen for the observation of high-energy neutrinos from space.
Measuring and modelling the collisions of high-energy particles with the atmosphere, or indeed polar ice, is tricky. In an attempt to improve our understanding specifically of high energy proton collisions with the atmosphere, the Large Hadron Collider loaded up with Oxygen nuclei a while ago, and smashed them up with protons (hydrogen nuclei, if you prefer). We measured the resulting mess in the ATLAS detector. Indeed we got more information, but, as this quote from Jesse indicates:
… the modellers have work to do. They do now, thanks to ATLAS and the LHC, have some significantly better data to work with.
So, is the above (a) a publicity shot from the stage adaptation of The Usual Suspects (b) four (one current, three previous) Heads of Physics and Astronomy at UCL.
Continue readingClive Lewis MP hosted a drop in session about the funding crisis in the science and technology research council (STFC).
We had a busy two hours talking to MPs and Peers. I think and hope we had some impact.
There is so much going on in the world, and Westminster, these days that it sometimes feel like whistling in the wind trying to make the case for particle physics and astronomy, and for research in general. But research, and the universities where most of it is done, are one of the areas where the UK is genuinely excellent, to the huge benefit of all of us (not just those of us who get paid for doing it…).
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