Edinburgh physicists wow crowds at WOMAD

Festival goers at the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) were treated to a feast for the mind last weekend as Edinburgh physicists Professor Victoria Martin and Dr Alex Hall gave talks at the World of Physics pavilion.

WOMAD festival started in 1980 as the brainchild of musician Peter Gabriel, and takes place near Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The annual festival showcases musicians and performers from around the globe, and since 2016 has also hosted a range of physics events including talks, workshops, demonstrations, and panel discussions.

Professor Martin from the Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics gave a talk celebrating the life and work of the late Professor Peter Higgs. She commented:

It was a great honour to be at WOMAD to talk about Peter Higgs and his legacy to physics and to our world.  I'm sure Peter would have very much appreciated the spirit of the festival of bringing people together to celebrate the arts, science and culture from all over the globe.

Dr Alex Hall from the Institute for Astronomy gave a talk on the Euclid space telescope, showcasing its incredible imaging power and explaining the fundamental physics of dark matter and dark energy that the mission aims to shed light upon.

Dr Hall said:

It was a privilege to be invited to speak at WOMAD. Having science events alongside literature, art, and music exposes people to different ideas and perspectives that they may not usually encounter and is one of the reasons this festival is so special.

Both talks were given to a capacity crowd of several hundred and were very well received by the engaged and captivated audience.

The talks were sponsored by CERN & Society Foundation.