School of Physics & Astronomy

The School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds is now ranked 7th Best in the UK according to the Complete University Guide

The next Stoner Colloquium by Professor Markus Aspelmeyer from the University of Vienna, entitled "Schroedinger’s Mirrors: Confronting Quantum Physics with Gravity?" will take place on Tuesday, 3rd April at 5.15 pm in Conference Auditorium 2. 

 

The School of Physics & Astronomy sponsors its talented, enthusiastic students, to spend the summer working in research groups within the School. Applications for 2012 have now closed.

Interested in finding out more about studying for a PhD in the School of Physics and Astronomy? Well, come along to our Open Evening to hear about our ground-breaking research and priority projects, about scholarships and studying at postgraduate level, and about how to apply. Refreshments will be available.

Staff at the School of Physics and Astronomy were pleased to meet so many visitors at our Open Day on Saturday 8 October. We hope everyone enjoyed the talks and tours and we congratulate our prizewinners!

Our undergraduate students apply to take part in a paid research project, held over the summer months. Come along to a symposium on Wednesday 5th October 2011 at 4pm in room 9.90 to hear how summer 2011 students got on

Prof. Ian Ward FRS was on Radio 4 talking about getting energy from lithium batteries. You can listen to Material World for the next few days on iPlayer. Find out more at the Polymer and Complex Fluids research pages.

Congratulations to our many successful applicants on their excellent A level grades. We will be writing to you next week and we look forward to you joining us in September.

The National Student Survey for 2011 puts Leeds in the top ten Physics departments in the country for overall satisfaction – and for graduate employment.

We send our warmest wishes to the Physics and Astronomy graduates of 2011.  We're very proud of you and hope you enjoyed the reception in the School after the Graduation ceremony. Good luck with your future careers – and keep in touch!

Congratulations to Dr Richard Graham of the University of Nottingham, winner of the Arthur B. Metzner Early Career Award, of the Society of Rheology. Richard was an undergraduate, PhD student and post-doc at Leeds.

Come along to the next IOP public lecture! Monday 28th February 7-8pm, Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre, Michael Sadler Building

Learn about 'Playing with atomic lego' from our speaker Dr Yvette Hancock (University of York).

On Friday 28th January 2011, discover how Einstein and the LHC will guide us on a journey to the heart of matter.The public are invited to attend a lecture from Professor Brian Foster (University of Oxford) which links Einstein's favourite instrument, the violin, with many of the concepts of modern physics that he did so much to found. This lecture will be accompanied by Jack Leiber playing live music by Bach, Mozart & Kreisler.

This is the 11^th in a series of annual free public lectures. We aim to bring current developments in Astronomy to a wide audience and to high schools in particular. For 2010, Professor Michele Dougherty will be delivering a talk on "The Cassini-Huygens mission at Saturn and Titan and future outer planetary missions" Wednesday 10th November 2010.

The Bragg Lecture is delivered every two or three years at different venues. This year, Leeds is hosting the prestigious lecture which will be delivered tonight, Wednesday 27th October 2010, by Sir John Meurig Thomas FRS.

Would you like to take part in a paid research placement in the School during summer 2011? There is a Summer Placement Symposium TODAYWednesday 6^th October 2010, 4.00-6.00pm. Students who took part in a research placement this summer will be giving a 5 minute presentation on the work they carried out. Come along to hear about the projects which took place this summer and to learn about the application process for summer 2011 placements.

We look forward to seeing our new students in September. If you are concerned about whether you have a place here at Leeds, check our decision on the UCAS website.

An innovative cardiac scanner will dramatically improve the process of diagnosing heart conditions.

The portable magnetometer is being developed by Professor Ben Varcoe.

The Condensed Matter group will be hosting a talk from IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for 2010, Professor Claudia Felser. The talk takes place at 2pm on Wednesday 16th June 2010. All welcome to attend.

Sir Michael Atiyah (University of Edinburgh) will be the guest speaker at the next prestigious Stoner Colloquium, which takes place on Tuesday 9^th February 2010. The title of the talk is "Topology and Quantum Physics". This event is open to staff, students and the public.

This is part of the lecture series celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species". Professor  Liane Benning (Earth & Environment, University of Leeds) will be giving a talk on Tuesday 8^th December 2009 entitled "Survival of Prebiotic Molecules in Harsh Environments". THIS LECTURE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. It takes place at 5.30pm in the Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre.

Quantum phyics has been responsible for many of the technological advances made in the last decade. Electronics is a special case where it is quite easy to point out examples of how an understanding of quantum physics has enabled new devices to be created.  Professors SSP Parkin (IBM),  G Aeppli (UCL) and B J Hickey (LEEDS) organised a Royal Society Discussion meeting on the 28-29 of September.    The meeting brought together international researchers to discuss the latest developments in spintronics. 

For the annual Bolton Lecture and also forming part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, there will be a lecture from Dr Terry Kee on Thursday 12^th November 2009 at 5.30pm.

This is part of the lecture series celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species". Professor Richard Nelson (Queen Mary, University of London) will be giving a talk on Tuesday 13^th October 2009 entitled "Planetary Systems in the Galaxy: Architecture, Formation and Evolution". THIS LECTURE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. It takes place at 5.30pm in Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre.

Professor Art McDonald FRS (Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute, Queen's University, Canada) will be the guest speaker at the next prestigious Stoner Colloquium, which takes place on 26th October 2009. The title of the talk is SNO, SNO+ and the new SNOLAB. This event is open to staff, students and the public.

 

This is part of the lecture series celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species". Professor David Williams (UCL) will be giving a talk on Tuesday 15th September 2009 entitled "Molecules in Space". THIS LECTURE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. It takes place at 7pm in Leeds University Business School, Yorkshire Bank Lecture Theatre.

The School is hosting a symposium for some of the undergraduate students working on research projects over the summer. The event takes place this Friday 7^th August.  

Two exciting new PhD positions are available starting October 2009 in the Molecular and Nanoscale Physics group at Leeds: one in single molecule protein folding and another in biophysics of cryopreservation.

Both projects are part of a broader proposal to study the physical properties of the solvent environment in biological systems and many exciting opportunities exist.

On Tuesday 23rd June, as part of post-graduate training, and to lubricate scientific discussion and interaction among researchers, we have arranged aPostgraduate Research Symposium where final year post-graduates will present their work to the school. This is an ideal opportunity for PhD students to prepare for your viva, think about how to organise your thesis, and prepare for job interviews...and of course to learn about and discuss science (ultimately the reason we're all here!!).

Professor Sean Langridge of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory will be giving a Stoner Colloquium talk on Thursday 18th June 2009 entitled "Magnetism at the Interface: Observing the Buried Physics of Magnetic Nanostructures". ALL STAFF & STUDENTS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND and this event is also open to the public. 5-6pm in Conference Auditorium 2.

This is part of the lecture series celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species".

Professor Sam Falle from Applied Mathematics in the University of Leeds, will be giving a talk on Thursday 4th June 2009 entitled "Supernovae". STAFF, STUDENTS & MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND. 7pm in Michael Sadler room LG.19.

The Institute of Physics, Yorkshire Branch, in association with the Women in Physics Group is pleased to announce the second in its series of public lectures in physics to be held in Leeds. Our speaker is Professor Athene Donald, a distinguished soft-matter physicist, who will be giving a lecture entitled "A Physicist's View of Proteins Behaving Badly" at 5.30 p.m on Thursday 23^rd April 2009 in the Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre on campus at the University of Leeds.

Members of our Condensed Matter research group have been extending our knowledge of how magnetic materials behave on an atomic scale. A team led by Dr Chris Marrows have been using the PhotoEmission Electron Microscope (PEEM) on the Nanoscience beamline at the Diamond synchrotron to study the properties of magnetic domain walls, the boundary between areas of material with uniform magnetisation.

This is part of the lecture series celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species".

Professor Werner Hofmann from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Germany, will be giving a Stoner Colloquium talk on Wednesday 4th March 2009 entitled "The High Energy γ-ray Sky Revealed: From H.E.S.S. to CTA". ALL STAFF & STUDENTS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND. 5-6pm in Conference Auditorium 2.

Professor Peter Olmsted was awarded the 2008 Annual Award of the British Society of Rheology at its annual meeting in Leeds, 16 December 2008.

Professor Frank Close, a noted particle physicist, will be giving a lecture entitled "The Void: everything about nothing" at 6.30pm on Tuesday 9 December in the Rupert Beckett lecture theatre at the University of Leeds. This event is free and open to the public.

The School is holding an Open Day for prospective postgraduate research students on Wednesday 3rd December 2008, 11am-4pm. There will be presentations by the Director of Postgraduate Studies and representative academics from the various research groups, a poster session, tours of our research facilities, and an opportunity for you to chat with members of staff and students.

 

Dr Matthias Bode of the Argonne National Laboratory in the USA will be giving a Stoner Colloquium talk on 26th November entitled "Imaging of Magnetic Nanostructures with Atomic Spin Resolution". ALL STAFF & STUDENTS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND.

Professor Tom Hartquist, Head of Astrophysics, was one of five speakers to give overview talks at a three day meeting held at Harvard University to celebrate the 80th birthday of Professor Alexander Dalgarno FRS, Gold Medallist of the  Royal Astronomical Society, Hughes Medallist of the Royal Society and member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

The 2008 Open Days will be held in June and September. Featuring tours of the School of Physics and Astronomy, Physics talks and lab demonstrations, open days are the perfect opportunity to find out more about Physics at Leeds.