Active Galactic Nuclei and Tidal Disruption Events

Philip Short https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/people/philip-short https://twitter.com/philshort17?lang=en A tale of hungry black holes and unfortunate stars. At the centre of every galaxy lies a supermassive black hole. Some of these black holes are in an ‘active’ state, pulling in a steady stream of material from the surrounding area. While in this state these black holes have a significant […]

Where do Mathematical Symbols Come From?

Professor Sarah Hart https://www.bbk.ac.uk/our-staff/profile/8004985/sarah-hart https://twitter.com/sarahlovesmaths?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_B._Hart https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-hart-99879899/?originalSubdomain=uk Sarah Hart is the first woman Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, and was appointed in 2020. She is Professor of Mathematics and Head of Mathematics and Statistics at Birkbeck, University of London. She studied at Oxford and Manchester, gaining her PhD in 2000. Postdoctoral research and teaching […]

A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making

Dr Anna Ploszajski https://www.annaploszajski.com/ https://twitter.com/AnnaPloszajski?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Ploszajski https://www.instagram.com/annaploszajski/?hl=en From atomic structures to theories about magnetic forces, scientific progress has given us a good grasp on the properties of many different materials. However, most scientists can’t measure the temperature of steel just by looking at it, or sculpt stone into intricate statuary, or know how it feels […]

The Maths of Life and Death

Dr Kit Yates https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/kit-yates https://twitter.com/Kit_Yates_Maths?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://kityates.com/ https://wikitia.com/wiki/Kit_Yates Kit is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Bath and co-director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath. His research demonstrates that mathematics can be used to describe all sorts of real-world phenomena: from embryo formation to […]

Cosmic Knowledge and the Long-term Strategy of the Human Race

About this Event Modern astronomy has succeeded remarkably well in explaining the cosmic origins of the human race — how the Galaxy was assembled, how the Sun and Earth were formed, and where the precious chemical elements that comprise our planet came from. For the first time in history, the human race is poised to […]

The Music of the Cosmos

Professor Roberto Trotta Roberto Trotta is Visiting Gresham Professor of Cosmology and Professor of Astrostatistics at Imperial College, London. For more information about him, please visit his website: http://robertotrotta.com/ Roberto Trotta’s lecture series are as follows: 2020/21 The Unexpected Universe 2019/20 The Nature of Reality All lectures by the Visiting Professor of Cosmology can be […]

The Discovery of Gravitational Waves

Marios Kalomenopoulos https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/people/marios-kalomenopoulos https://www.linkedin.com/in/marios-kalomenopoulos-710a837a/?originalSubdomain=gr The detection of gravitational waves some years ago, opened a new window to the Universe, created a media fuss and gave a Nobel Prize for Physics! But what is the story behind this discovery? What about the discovery claims of the 60s? And where does Glasgow fit into this mystery? This […]

The Life Cycle of Galaxies

Dr Romeel Davé https://www.linkedin.com/in/romeel-dave-885b59/ Dr Davé is a theoretical astrophysicist who uses supercomputer simulations to study how the visible Universe evolves from the Big Bang until today. https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/people/romeel-dave https://www.scientia.global/dr-romeel-dave-putting-universe-computer/ Our most powerful telescopes reveal a universe filled with galaxies that come in a dizzying range of shapes, sizes, colours, and environments. How this diverse population […]

A bit of a stretch? Liquid crystal elastomers

Prof Helen Gleeson OBE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Gleeson Helen Frances Gleeson OBE FInstP is a British physicist who specialises in soft matter and liquid crystals. She is Cavendish Professor and Head of the School of Physics at the University of Leeds. https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/physics/staff/4108/professor-helen-f-gleeson A talk by Professor Helen Gleeson, OBE. Cavendish Professor of Physics and Head of Physics and […]

Protecting the planet – Myths and Facts

Professor Averil MacDonald https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-averil-macdonald-obe-dsc-duniv-frsa-332aa93/?originalSubdomain=uk https://wisdom.rhul.ac.uk/ama-with-professor-averil-macdonald/ Many of us are keen to do our bit to protect the planet and have been influenced by people like David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough (below left) Sir David Frederick Attenborough born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster and natural historian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg (above right) Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman […]