Congratulations to Dr Jean-Christophe Denis who received the University of Edinburgh’s Community Partnership Award for his work with the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine and the Craigmillar community.
The Community Partnership Award recognises innovative and fruitful approaches where University staff and students work in partnership with the community on activities which lead to positive social impact. For his work around science engagement in the Craigmillar Community, Dr Jean-Christophe (JC) Denis received the Community Partnership Award, alongside his partners, at a ceremony organised in St Cecilia Hall last month by the University’s Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability.
Dr Denis has been working since 2017 as Ogden Outreach Officer for the School of Physics and Astronomy and the National Biofilms Innovation Centre. After meeting colleague Dr Cathy Southworth from the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, discussions between them led them to the organisation of the first ‘Craigmillar Community Science Festival’, in partnership with the local schools and a local community café, the White House. The first festival was a big success, with over 100 attendees and excellent feedback from all involved. It has since turned into an annual event, with the third festival (which has expanded from one afternoon to three days of activities) taking place last week. The festival is now a partnership between the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, the School of Physics and Astronomy, Castleview and Niddrie Mill Primary Schools, Castlebrae High School, the Craigmillar Library, the Community Alliance Trust, Glasgow Science Centre and the White House Café.
An original aspect of this festival is its strong focus on the community: the local schools are involved in its preparation. This year, Dr Denis (who is a Craigmillar resident) and physics and astronomy undergraduate outreach students led a science club for primary 4 and 5 pupils in Castleview Primary School, with weekly school visits for over 2 months before the festival. The pupils enjoyed doing a variety of activities, and then chose their favourite activities to present and deliver at the Craigmillar Community Science Festival. Thanks to a Principal Teaching Award Scheme grant, Dr Denis also setup science mentoring sessions and a science club delivered by second year undergraduate students in Castlebrae High School. This included a telescope building activity, with pupils encouraged to bring their telescope to a stargazing session during the ‘Science After Dark’ event at the festival.
Honours years students enjoyed a successful Undergraduate Research Conference, the first organised by the School, which showcased the research undertaken by students in their Senior Honours and MPhys projects, highlighted projects where new discoveries have led to the publication of undergraduate student work, and illustrated some of the research opportunities for students beyond their degree.
As part of their degree programme, year 4 and year 5 students undertake projects in order to develop independence in the skills of experimental design and project management, and the presentation of project results, methods, results and conclusions in a suitable format tests students’ communication skills.
During the conference, students had the opportunity to view the Senior Honours Project Posters produced by year 4 students and the MPhys Project Public Summaries produced by year 5 students, with prizes awarded to outstanding posters and summaries.
The conference also provided students with the opportunity to learn from alumna Anna de Graaff whose talk on ‘A search for missing baryons in the cosmic web’ reflected on her undergraduate project which became a refereed journal paper, and Dr Paul Clegg who described his supervision of a student’s project which formed the basis of a published paper.
Prof Judy Hardy, the School's Director of Teaching commented:
This conference gave our students a great opportunity to learn about the project work completed by their peers and learn about the new discoveries which have stemmed from such projects over the years.
Until now, the atoms in physical material were understood to exist typically in one of three states – solid, liquid or gas. Researchers have found, however, that some elements can, when subjected to extreme conditions, take on the properties of both solid and liquid states.
Applying high pressures and temperatures to potassium – a simple metal – creates a state in which most of the element’s atoms form a solid lattice structure, the findings show. However, the structure also contains a second set of potassium atoms that are in a fluid arrangement. Under the right conditions, over half a dozen elements – including sodium and bismuth – are thought to be capable of existing in the newly discovered state, researchers say.
Until now, it was unclear if the unusual structures represented a distinct state of matter, or existed as transition stages between two distinct states.
A team led by scientists from the School of Physics and Astronomy used powerful computer simulations to study the existence of the state – known as the chain-melted state. Simulating how up to 20,000 potassium atoms behave under extreme conditions revealed that the structures formed represent the new, stable state of matter. Applying pressure to the atoms leads to the formation of two interlinked solid lattice structures. Chemical interactions between atoms in one lattice are strong, meaning they stay in a solid form when the structure is heated, while the other atoms melt into a liquid state.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was supported by the European Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The work was carried out in collaboration with scientists from Xi’an Jiantong University in China.
Dr Andreas Hermann, of the School of Physics and Astronomy, who led the study, said:
Potassium is one of the simplest metals we know, yet if you squeeze it, it forms very complicated structures. We have shown that this unusual but stable state is part solid and part liquid. Recreating this unusual state in other materials could have all kinds of applications.
A fascinating free new exhibition – part of a year-long series of events - opens in Edinburgh aiming to establish Charles Piazzi Smyth’s place in Edinburgh’s history. The exhibition, housed in Edinburgh’s iconic Nelson Monument on Calton Hill, presents Piazzi Smyth’s photography, paintings and drawings, alongside a newly commissioned short film and interviews in what will be the first major exhibition dedicated to Edinburgh’s forgotten astronomer.
The location of the exhibition itself carries strong significance as in 1852 Piazzi Smyth started the Time Ball service which involved hoisting a large ball from the top of Nelson Monument which would drop at exactly one o’clock every day as a time signal to ships docked in Leith harbour. In 1861 Piazzi Smyth added an audible element and set up the One O’Clock Gun service from Edinburgh Castle, stretching a cable all the way from Calton Hill to another clock on Castle Rock, which fired the Gun. The cable is no longer in place but both the Time Ball on Nelson Monument and the One O’ Clock Gun still remain active today, providing a daily reminder of Piazzi Smyth’s legacy to the city.
Pioneering early photographer, accomplished artist, writer, meteorologist, traveller, enthusiastic investigator of pyramids and of course, ground-breaking astronomer and yet despite such achievements, very few will have heard of Charles Piazzi Smyth or of his innovative work, the influence of which is still felt around the world today. Housed in the Nelson Monument Museum, the new exhibition aims to bring about a new awareness of Piazzi Smyth’s work and that of his wife Jessica (a geologist who became a good practising astronomer), forming part of a series of activity around the 200th anniversary of his birth.
In 1845 at the age of just 26, Piazzi Smyth was appointed Astronomer Royal for Scotland at the Calton Hill Observatory in Edinburgh, and also Professor of Astronomy in the University of Edinburgh. Whilst working as Astronomer Royal of Scotland in the nineteenth century, Charles Piazzi Smyth found that the polluted skies obscured the stars. So, along with his wife Jessica, he decided to take state of the art telescopes to Tenerife in 1856, climbing to altitudes of over 10,00ft. Thanks to his superb photography, scientific recording and drawings we can see how he clearly demonstrated why observatories should be at high altitude. It is through this work he can be said to have pioneered today's practice of positioning telescopes on mountain tops to obtain better observations.
As Astronomer Royal for Scotland he spent much of his time and did much of his work from the City Observatory on Calton Hill, which recently reopened to the public after 100 years and can be visited today.
Piazzi Smyth’s later measurements of the Great Pyramid at Giza won him a medal, but his beliefs around pyramids caused him to resign from the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Scotland after arguments about science and religion. His scientific legacy was marred by the controversy, regardless, his influence in the development of astronomy is undeniable, an influence which can still be felt in Edinburgh and across the world today.
Regius Professor of Astronomy at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Professor Andy Lawrence said:
Piazzi Smyth and his wife Jessie are great Edinburgh characters but are forgotten in the city where they worked. Astronomers tour the world to observatories because of Charles’ work. His scientific work underpins much of our work today.
He added:
As we launch the exhibition, we are also beginning a grand Time Gun Public Experiment. As a first step, we just want to find out who can hear the One O’ Clock Gun. Any day between Monday April 8th and Sunday April 14th, we are asking citizens and visitors to listen out for the Gun, and let us know via social media with the hashtag #IHeardTheGun, and tell us where they were. Later in the year we will get more ambitious and time the delay all over Town!
The exhibition is a partnership between Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh and the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh. The exhibition is part of the celebration of Charles Piazzi Smyth’s 200th anniversary including a series of public talks, a citizen science experiment with the One O'Clock Gun, and a Symposium at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
The Institute of Physics is launching a bursary scheme to help under-represented students to become physics researchers, thanks to the donation of prize funds from Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was awarded the Breakthrough Prize last September for the discovery of radio pulsars and decided to donate all her £2.3m prize money to support PhD students from groups currently under-represented in physics, including female students, black and other minority ethnic (BAME) students, students who require support for disabilities, LGBT+ students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund will be administered and managed by the Institute of Physics and will support graduates who wish to study a PhD in physics. The fund will also support students from low socio-economic backgrounds and those who qualify for refugee status.
Featured in the Institute of Physics’ promotional videos of the scheme is School of Physics and Astronomy current year 4 Astrophysics student, Ozioma Kamalu. Ozioma is a member of the School’s Equality and Diversity Committee and is Campus Ambassador for the Institute of Physics.
She reported:
I am so pleased that such a generous donation has been made available to support under-represented students in physics. I am also privileged to have this opportunity to support the scheme and help encourage fellow students by working to reduce inequalities in this field.
Dr Job Thijssen, the School’s Director of Equality & Diversity commented:
I am delighted to hear the news of this initiative, funded by the generous donation of Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, which aims to encourage greater diversity in physics by supporting graduates from currently underrepresented groups who wish to do a PhD in physics. I would also like to thank Ozioma for her continuing efforts to promote an inclusive environment in the School and beyond.
Prof Bell Burnell was awarded a Breakthrough Prize for her discovery in 1967 of radio pulsars - rapidly rotating star remnants.
Congratulations to Carlo who will have the opportunity to meet Nobel Laureates and young scientists at this meeting which aims to foster the exchange among scientists of different generations, cultures, and disciplines.
The Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings selected 580 young scientists from 88 countries to come together with 42 Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany from 30 June to 5 July 2019. This year's 69th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting is dedicated to physics; key topics are cosmology, laser physics and gravitational waves.
The selected young scientists are outstanding undergraduates, PhD students and post-docs under the age of 35, conducting research in the field of physics. They have successfully passed a multi-stage international selection process. About 140 science academies, universities, foundations and research-oriented companies contributed to the nominations.
Among the 42 participating laureates are the 2018 Nobel Laureates in Physics, Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou. Eight further laureates will come to Lindau for the first time.
Since 1951, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings have offered scientists numerous opportunities to inspire and network with one another.
Carlo commented:
I am overwhelmed to be selected for this prestigious event. I am very much looking forward to meeting attendees, having the opportunity to discuss my work and to develop new networks.
The School of Physics and Astronomy has had its status as Juno Champion renewed in recognition of our continuing efforts in addressing gender equality and fostering a more inclusive working environment.
Project Juno is a national scheme operated by the Institute of Physics (IOP) that recognizes and rewards physics departments that have taken action to address gender equality and to encourage better practice for all staff . The School was first awarded Juno Practitioner in 2010 and progressed to Juno Champion in 2014. The Juno Champion award and the Athena SWAN Silver award are reciprocal awards.
Prof Arthur Trew, Head of School, School of Physics and Astronomy reported:
I am extremely pleased that the work we have done, and continue to do, to make the School a fairer place to work has been recognised by the IOP with its Champion-level award for Equality and Diversity. This is not the end, and we aim to improve our ways of working further over the coming years.
Prof Annette Ferguson, Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics & Astronomy commented:
It has been a great pleasure to contribute to the School's Juno Champion renewal process and I am delighted that our continuing efforts to address gender equality and encourage good practice have been rewarded.
Dr Job Thijssen, Director of Equality & Diversity, School of Physics & Astronomy said:
Having our IOP Juno Champion award renewed demonstrates the School’s continued commitment to take action to address gender equality. I would like to thank all the members of the School’s Equality & Diversity Committee, both past and present, for their invaluable contribution to the School’s Juno application. I look forward to continue to work with students and staff to promote an inclusive culture within the School.
The School’s Equality & Diversity Committee welcomes the encouraging and constructive feedback from the IOP’s Juno Assessment Panel. Juno is an ongoing activity, and we look forward to undertaking the work that is to be done while we, as a School, work towards Juno Excellence.
A major new radio sky survey has revealed hundreds of thousands of previously undetected galaxies, shedding new light on many research areas including the physics of black holes and how clusters of galaxies evolve.
An international team of more than 200 astronomers from 18 countries, in which Edinburgh astronomers play a leading role, has published the first phase of the survey at unprecedented sensitivity using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope.
Data release
Radio astronomy reveals processes in the Universe that we cannot see with optical instruments. In this first part of the sky survey, LOFAR observed a quarter of the northern hemisphere at low radio frequencies. Around ten percent of that data has been made public; a special issue of the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics is dedicated to the first 26 research papers describing the survey and its first results. This first data release maps three hundred thousand sources, almost all of which are galaxies in the distant Universe; their radio signals have travelled billions of light years before reaching Earth.
Black holes
When we look up at the sky with a radio telescope we see mainly emission from the immediate environment of massive black holes. Professor Philip Best (School of Physics and Astronomy, and PI of the LOFAR-UK consortium) explained:
What we do know is that black holes are pretty messy eaters. When gas falls onto them they emit jets of material that can be seen at radio wavelengths. LOFAR has a remarkable sensitivity which allows us to study black holes even in galaxies which only have jets on very small scales.
Dr Jose Sabater, who works in Best’s research group, has used the new LOFAR data to discover that these jets are present in all of the most massive galaxies.
Prof Philip Best explains:
This means that their black holes never stop eating. The energy output in these radio jets plays a crucial role in controlling the conversion of gas into stars in their surrounding galaxies.
Processing data to produce images
LOFAR produces enormous amounts of data. The equivalent of ten million DVDs of data has been processed to create the low-frequency radio sky map. The survey was made possible by a mathematical breakthrough in the way we understand interferometry. A large international team has been working to efficiently transform the massive amounts of data into high-quality images. Pre-processing of the LOFAR data within the archives in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland reduces the size of the huge LOFAR datasets before the data are transported to member institutions for the images to be made. Most of the images for the first data release were made on the LOFAR-UK high-performance computing facility located at the University of Hertfordshire.
Prof Philip Best reported:
Making these images in a completely automated way has required many years of software development, as well as investment in advanced computer hardware but it’s all been worthwhile for the unprecedented quality of the images, which are allowing us to study the evolution of galaxies and their activity in more detail than ever before.
LOFAR telescope
The LOFAR telescope is unique in its capabilities to map the sky in fine detail at metre wavelengths and is considered to be the world’s leading telescope of its type. The European network of radio antennas spans seven countries and includes the UK station at STFC RAL Space’s Chilbolton Observatory in Hampshire. LOFAR was designed, built, and is now operated by ASTRON in The Netherlands. The signals from all of the stations are combined to make the radio images. This effectively gives astronomers a much larger telescope than it is practical to build - and the bigger the telescope, the better the resolution. The first phase of the survey only processed data from the central stations located in the Netherlands, but UK astronomers are now re-processing the data with all of the international stations to provide resolution twenty times better.
The UK contribution to LOFAR is funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Image gallery
PhD studentships available in two new collaborative EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training in which we are partners.
Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation
The Centre for Doctoral Training in Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation, SOFI2 CDT, has up to 16 fully funded four-year PhD studentships available in for graduates in the physical and biological sciences, mathematics and engineering.
SOFI2 CDT is the successor to the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces (SOFI) which, since 2014 has provided industrially integrated, postgraduate training in research, enterprise and innovation for future leaders in the soft matter academic and industrial sectors.
SOFI2 CDT combines expertise from Durham, Leeds and Edinburgh Universities, more than 25 industry partners and national facilities. It brings together more than 60 academics from Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Food Science, Biology, Engineering, Earth Sciences, Computing, (Applied) Mathematics and the Durham University Business School. SOFI2 students will undertake a common 6-month, industry-facing science training course before selecting their research projects at one of the three partner Universities. Approximately half of the projects are expected to be co-sponsored by external partners and all students will have an external co-supervisor.
Further information on the SOFI2 CDT.
Mathematical Modelling, Analysis and Computation
The Mathematical Modelling, Analysis and Computation (MAC-MIGS) Centre for Doctoral Training is offering around 15 studentships PhD students an intensive 4-year training and research programme that equips them with the skills needed to tackle the challenges of data-intensive modelling.
Strong applicants with interests relevant to all areas of mathematical modelling, analysis and computing, as well as students whose first degree is in other fields of science and engineering, are encouraged to apply.
MAC-MIGS is a PhD programme run jointly by the universities of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt, as part of the Maxwell Institute Graduate School. MAC-MIGS projects are focussed on the formulation, analysis and implementation of state-of-the-art mathematical and computational models and methods. The Centre aims to train modelling experts who can develop and analyse mathematical models, translate them into efficient computer codes, and communicate the solutions with industry and government. MAC-MIGS will be based in new Bayes Centre on the University of Edinburgh's central campus, the heart of the £1B Edinburgh City Deal.
For the first time, evidence of an impact taking place between planets outside our Solar System has been found.
An international team of researchers, including experts from the School of Physics and Astronomy, used a telescope in the Canary Islands to study a distant star system that contains four planets. They used a spectrograph to measure precise shifts in wavelengths of light, which enabled them to estimate the masses of the planets.
The researchers found that two of the planets are roughly the same size, but one is more than twice the mass of the other. This means the heavier planet – known as Kepler-107c – must have a much larger iron core. Their findings suggest Kepler-107c may once have been larger, but a high-speed collision with another planet stripped off part of its outer layer – called the mantle. They predict the planets were travelling at more than sixty kilometres per second at the time of impact. Kepler-107c’s iron core consequently makes up 70 per cent of its reduced mass, the team says. By contrast, the core of the lighter planet – Kepler-107b – accounts for 30 per cent of its mass.
Impacts between planets are thought to have happened during the early history of our Solar System. Previous research suggests that the Moon may have formed following a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized planet around 4.5 billion years ago.
Such collisions may occur in planetary systems across the galaxy but this is the first time they have found evidence of such an impact outside our Solar System.
Prof Ken Rice of the School of Physics and Astronomy who was involved in the study said:
The diversity of planets found outside our Solar System is fascinating. We can use this diversity to better understand how planets form and evolve.
The research was led by scientists from Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics, which operates the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) on La Palma in the Carnary Islands where the observations were made. The International team also included researchers from the Universities of Bristol and St Andrews, and Queen's University Belfast.
The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, received funding from the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance.
