Congratulations to students who received medals, certificates, prizes and scholarships at the School’s Undergraduate and MSc Student Awards Ceremony.
Head of School, Prof Jim Dunlop announced the awards in recognition of excellent performance and achievements from undergraduate and MSc students during the last academic year.
Certificates & Medals
152 pre-honours students received Certificates of Merit for gaining excellent grades in their Physics and Mathematical Physics courses.
A total of 20 Class Medals were awarded to undergraduate students with the highest overall mark for their degree programme, and 3 Class Medals were awarded to MSc students who received the highest marks across their coursework and dissertation.
Prizes and Scholarships
17 Prizes and Scholarships were awarded to undergraduate students who achieved the highest results in their subject area, and the summer poster scholarship was awarded to the student who produced the best poster based on their research undertaken as part of the School’s Career Development Summer scheme.
Many congratulations to all recipients.
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Results show what happened to the spacecraft and asteroid following NASA’s asteroid deflection mission.
On 26 September 2022 NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid, as the first ever experimental test of ‘planetary defence’ technology. The aim of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was to change the trajectory of a harmless asteroid, to prove that we could do so in case we ever find one heading towards Earth. The first scientific results from this mission have now been published by the journal Nature. These include a collection of papers which describe what happened to the spacecraft and asteroid, what was seen by the small ‘LICIACube’ satellite that accompanied DART to witness the collision, and what was seen from Earth by astronomers using telescopes. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Astronomy were part of the team that observed the impact, using telescopes in Chile and in Kenya, and the Hubble Space Telescope.
Dr Agata Rożek, Prof Colin Snodgrass, and Dr Mariangela Bonavita worked on observations of the system before and after impact using the 1.54m Danish telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The paper led by Dr Cristina Thomas, of Northern Arizona University, combines these measurements with others from telescopes elsewhere in Chile and the USA to show that the impact shortened the orbital period of the asteroid system by 33 min, well in excess of the minimum goal of the mission.
Prof Colin Snodgrass, Brian Murphy, and Dr Cyrielle Opitom were part of a study of the cloud of debris produced after the impact, as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The study, led by Dr Jian-Yang Li of the Planetary Science Institute, used observations of the debris in the hours and days following the impact to estimate the size and amount of particles ejected by the impact, and how their interaction with the binary asteroid system led to the formation of the complicated looking ‘tail’.
This first wave of scientific papers show that the DART mission was highly successful, and also give us glimpses of the rich variety of new information about asteroids that will come from further analysis of the data. In the coming months more detailed studies will look at different aspects of the physics of the collision, what we saw at the moment of impact, and the longer term evolution of the comet-like tail that was created. These will include studies led by Edinburgh astronomers using the world-leading Very Large Telescope in Chile, and results from Edinburgh’s own unique contribution to the project: a small observatory set up at a remote site in Kenya, which was positioned there to have a direct view of the collision.
Prof Colin Snodgrass from the Institute for Astronomy commented:
The impact of the DART spacecraft on asteroid Dimorphos lasted only a fraction of a second but the impact this will have on the study of asteroids will be felt for years. There are many more exciting results to come.
Further information about the project
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory built and operated the DART spacecraft and manages the DART mission for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office as a project of the agency’s Planetary Missions Program Office. LICIACube is a project of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), carried out by Argotec.
Neither Dimorphos nor Didymos poses any hazard to Earth before or after DART’s controlled collision with Dimorphos.
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Find out more about the School of Physics and Astronomy MSc programmes.
The School of Physics and Astronomy Virtual Information Sessions will consist of presentations and Q&A sessions on the following days:
• Thursday 30th March: Introduction to MSc MSc Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences, 11:00-12:00
• Thursday 30th March: Introduction to MSc Particle and Nuclear Physics, 13:00-14:00
• Thursday 30th March: Introduction to MSc Mathematical Physics and MSc Theoretical Physics, 14:30-15:30
Come along to find out more about programme structure and courses, and meet MSc Directors. To book a place please complete our Booking Form.
Please note: these sessions will take place in British Summer Time (BST)
Congratulations to Jim Dunlop, Head of School and Professor of Extragalactic Astronomy, who has been awarded a Royal Society Research Professorship.
The Royal Society Research Professorships are the Society's premier research awards, providing long term support to world-class researchers of outstanding achievement to focus on ambitious and original research of the highest quality.
Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy, Professor James Dunlop is based in the Institute for Astronomy. Over the next 5-10 years, his research aims to use the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA), to discover and study the first galaxies which were forming and growing in the first billion years of the universe. This could reveal ‘first light' and chart the formation of the elements required for life on Earth.
Congratulations to Ross Galloway who has been awarded the 2022 Chancellor’s Teaching Award.
Chancellor’s Awards
The Chancellor’s Awards are one of the most important ways in which the University recognises current members of the University community who have made outstanding contributions to teaching or research and achieved national and international recognition for their work.
The Teaching Award honours a colleague who has recently enhanced the teaching reputation of the University, through a significant contribution to improving or invigorating student learning.
Dr Ross Galloway is a recipient of this award in recognition of his exemplary leadership across all aspects of teaching in the School of Physics and Astronomy, and for providing much needed reassurance to students and staff particularly during the recent turbulent times.
Teaching contribution
Dr Ross Galloway has served as the Director of Teaching at the School of Physics and Astronomy since 2019 and has worked to help the School navigate into online delivery during the pandemic, and also to return to on-campus teaching, while retaining those new approaches and innovations that were found to be effective during the period of hybrid teaching. He has a focus on interactive engagement methods to help promote conceptual understanding and problem solving skills.
I feel very pleased and honoured to receive this award for my teaching, which has been one contribution to a great team effort from all the academic, postgraduate, and professional services staff. I hope it will help to promote some of the research-based approaches which have led to improved student learning here in the School of Physics and Astronomy.
The School of Physics and Astronomy is delighted to welcome Stephen Roe as our Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence.
Stephen will share his science-based business experience to help colleagues explore applications of their research, develop links between researchers and business, and foster an entrepreneurial culture.
Stephen is a University of Edinburgh physics graduate who has applied his scientific background and business skills to solve a range of complex business problems.
He has worked in a number of industries and sectors including aerospace, computers, medical devices, food and drink, power generation and precision optics, by applying leadership, problem solving and technology management skills to help businesses start and evolve.
The Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence scheme aims to increase the knowledge and awareness in UK universities of cutting edge industrial science, research and innovation.
Stephen commented:
This appointment funded by the Royal Society is very exciting for me being able to help the University where I graduated in Physics some years ago. It provides me with the opportunity to use my many years’ experience in working with science-based businesses and applying it to help my new colleagues in the School of Physics and Astronomy. I plan to build on the excellent work my predecessor, Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, has done over the past three years. It is an honour to be working with both The Royal Society and the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Jim Dunlop, Head of School of Physics and Astronomy said:
I am extremely pleased to welcome Stephen to the School, as our second Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence, following Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne (who remains closely involved in the work of the School through her consultancy). Stephen's background is rather different from Lucinda's and I anticipate he will help us to grow and further broaden our knowledge exchange and engagement with industry, building on the Impact we reported in REF2021.
Congratulations to Professor Peacock who has received the Royal Astronomical Society’s highest honour for his contributions to cosmology.
The Royal Astronomical Society has announced the 2023 winners of its awards, medals and prizes in recognition of significant achievement, from research to education and outreach, in the fields of astronomy and geophysics.
The Society's highest honour, its Gold Medal in Astronomy, is awarded this year to Professor John Peacock of the University of Edinburgh, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to cosmology. His work ranges from studying the early abundance of galaxies with actively fuelled central supermassive black holes, to the formation of cosmological large-scale structure and its relation to the clustering of galaxies.
Many of Professor Peacock’s contributions have been made by combining insightful theoretical analysis with the results from observational programmes. The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, which he co-led, found the first convincing evidence for the influence of pressure on fluctuations in the density of ‘normal’ matter in the universe, arising in the early cosmos after the Big Bang. This work was recognised by the award of the 2014 Shaw Prize.
Alongside his major contributions to cosmology, Professor Peacock has mentored generations of students and postdocs, and written a cosmology textbook which shaped the field.
Past winners of the Gold Medal in Astronomy include Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, Arthur Eddington and Stephen Hawking.
The Royal Astronomical Society was founded in 1820 and encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science.
The MSc in Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences is the UK’s first Masters in astrobiology. The programme builds on Edinburgh’s substantial and leading role in astrobiology, geobiology and planetary sciences, including cometary studies and exoplanet science.
Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences
Astrobiology and the planetary sciences are interdisciplinary subjects that build on physics, chemistry, biology and geosciences to answer fundamental questions. Astrobiologists seek to understand life in an astronomical context: how it forms, varies and evolves in concert with planets and stars, and how it is distributed across time and space. Planetary scientists investigate the origin, diversity and behaviour of planets, moons, rings, asteroids, comets, and solar systems. Together, these sciences offer a distinctive and mind-expanding perspective on our own place in the universe.
The MSc programme will provide graduates with an exciting foundation in the rapidly advancing interdisciplinary science of life in the universe while offering methodological training for further technical or academic work in the planetary, life, or space sciences.
Key programme features
The key features of the programme are:
- Full time programme, 12 months
- Taught components in astrobiology (theory and methods), planetary sciences, and a range of optional courses from environmental geochemistry to space law
- A research dissertation
Dr Sean McMahon, MSc Programme Director said:
It’s an incredibly exciting time to be working in these fields and we very much look forward to welcoming the next generation of astrobiologists and planetary scientists to Edinburgh to participate in our programme.
Image credit: Getty images 930523318 [gorodenkoff]
Dr Cheryl Patrick has been elected as co-spokesperson for an international collaboration working to uncover the mysteries of neutrinos.
The SuperNEMO (Neutrino Ettore Majorana Observatory) collaborators are looking for evidence of neutrinoless double beta decay – a rare type of radioactive decay which has been predicted, but has never been observed.
The collaboration brings together around 100 physicists and engineers across three continents, including UK collaborators from University College London, Warwick, Manchester and Imperial College.
The collaboration uses a detector located in a tunnel at the Modane Underground Laboratory, beneath the French Alps, to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. If this hypothesised process exists, it could give us clues to how we live in a universe of matter rather than antimatter, as well as help us to understand neutrinos - some of the most abundant, but least understood, subatomic particles in the universe.
Cheryl joined the University of Edinburgh last year as an STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow with a research plan to uncover the mysteries of neutrinos, and SuperNEMO was at its heart. Cheryl will serve as spokesperson for the collaboration alongside Christine Marquet who is based in the University of Bordeaux’s Laboratoire de Physique des Deux Infinis Bordeaux (LP2I) group.
Cheryl, who is based in the School’s Particle Physics Experiment research group, explains:
SuperNEMO is a fantastic experiment, which uses a unique technology to help us understand double-beta decay in new and original ways. I was delighted to be able to bring Edinburgh on board, and have been lucky to find such an amazing team of undergraduate, masters and PhD students here, who have been making great contributions to the experiment. This is a really exciting time for us as we start collecting our first physics data. I can't wait to find out what we can learn about neutrinos and the double-beta decay process, and I'm honoured and humbled that the SuperNEMO family has chosen me to help lead the collaboration through such a thrilling new phase.
Congratulations to astrophysicist Dr Alex Hall who has been awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.
The Royal Society’s University Research Fellowship scheme supports scientists who are in the early stages of their research path to build their career and pursue cutting-edge scientific research.
Dr Hall is based at the Institute for Astronomy. His research focuses on the fundamental physics that governs the dynamics of the Universe. Key challenges include understanding the accelerating expansion of the Universe, testing General Relativity on the largest scales, and measuring the mass of neutrinos. To answer these questions Dr Hall uses precision measurements of galaxies to infer the distribution of dark matter across the Universe. His research programme will use data from the upcoming Euclid space telescope, the European Space Agency’s flagship dark energy mission, to shed new light on some of the most important unsolved problems in physics.