DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

All are welcome, admission is free and no booking or tickets are required.

Science Lectures for 6th Formers & Teachers

Summer Term 2013

Promoted jointly with the Institute of Physics and Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

Place

All talks are held in the Chemistry Auditorium which is in the Christopher Ingold Building (Chemistry), 20 Gordon Street, WC1H 0AJ in the Autumn and Spring Terms. In the Summer Term, lectures are held in the Harrie Massey Lecture Theatre (entrance in Gower Court, off Gower Place).

The Lecture Theatres are close to Euston Rail & Bus Stations, and convenient for the Underground. The nearest Tube Stations are Euston Square and Euston Station. Parking facilities for school buses are available, with prior arrangement.

Time

All talks are held on Fridays at 6.30pm and last for approximately 1 hour, followed by a max. of 30mins discussion. Tea and coffee are available free from 5.30pm onwards.

Audience

Talks are free and no tickets or pre-booking are required. The talks are aimed at sixth form students and teachers, but are frequently attended (and enjoyed) by members of the public, teachers, academics and undergraduates. There is usually a lively Q&A session at the end of the talk. Sixth form, fifth form and fourth form students are welcome with or without a teacher.

Other Assistance

Articles and Books relevant to the Centre's lectures are available for consultation before each talk. The Centre also provides an information service for science teachers and 5th & 6th form students concerning visits to research centres and laboratories. The Centre also has a library of scientific articles and books.

The Science Centre was set up by Dr Sadiq Kadifachi in 1987 and has been hosted at UCL since 1997. Sadiq can be contacted at:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.
Telephone: 020 7679 3497 (Direct), 020 7679 7144 (Administrator), Fax: 020 7679 7145
Email: s.kadifachi@ucl.ac.uk

Past lecturers include:

Professors: Sir Hermann Bondi FRS; Julia Goodfellow; Dame Julia Higgins FRS; Sir John Mason FRS; Sir Robert May FRS; Sir Roger Penrose FRS; Janet Thornton FRS; Bonnie Wallace; Maurice Wilkins FRS (Nobel Laureate)

Recent lecturers:

Dr Mike Porter (UCL Chemistry Department) giving a demonstration lecture on ‘chemistry through the looking glass’

Prof. Michael Green FRS (Cambridge University) giving a lecture on ‘superstrings theory’, in the Chemistry Auditorium theatre. 2009

‘The first talk we attended entitled ‘chemistry through the looking glass’ (by Dr Mike Porter) was very informative and had several demonstrations to help understand mirror molecules. It was fascinating to find out that these molecules have different properties even though they have the same atoms in the molecule. These molecules exist naturally and can also be man made and each mirror molecule can have a different effect on the body. Thalidomide is one of these molecules where the left hand molecule causes deformities in babies and the right hand molecule relieves morning sickness.

The second was a discussion about ‘superstring theory’, (by Prof. Michael Green) and the current understanding of how the Universe is made up. Students again were intrigued to find out that there is a Planck distance and a Planck time, which appear to be the fundamental measures of distance and time.

We have brought between 30 and 40 students, mainly sixth form and have discussed the talks with enthusiasm and all of them have requested that we attend more talks which we intend to do.’

Lynn Peek, Chemistry teacher.

Southend High School for Boys, Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

‘How I wish we had had this opportunity so many years ago when I was thinking about University. Here I am now, having only just discovered the UCL Science Centre lectures, reorganising my life so as to fit them in. Hugely instructive, great fun and with insights on the cutting edge of discovery, they have woken my son (who goes to Acland Burghley School) up to the delights of science and several contemporary acquaintances too. I was struck by the interest, the absorption, of the young people who had given up their time to attend. This was not a game or an entertainment, this was about their lives and where they wanted to be sometime in the not too distant future. The lectures are always full to overflowing. The atmosphere is great. All we need now is the new year list of subjects.’ David Green, London Parent

Dr Stan Zochowski (UCL Physics and Astronomy) giving a lecture demonstration on magnetism. This sixth form student is cooling a piece of Terbium to liquid nitrogen temperature.

Comments by 6th-formers

Dear Dr Kadifachi,
I am writing simply to express my thanks for the most recent set of lectures that you produced. It was such a relief to see the principles that one reads about in books explained and to have questions answered. It is sad that the syllabus at GCSE and A-Level does not allow teachers and students to discuss any physics that is not on the course, and from the three lectures I attended a fair number of issues that I was not quite at ease with were addressed with clarity. It is indeed a pity that more students did not attend the lectures, and next term I will urge my colleagues even more to come! I have put my name and address on one of those envelopes and look forward to next term's speakers.
Thanks again
Yours faithfully,
Joseph Wass
Hampton School

We have enjoyed coming to these lectures, and the chance they have provided us to find out more about such interesting subjects has been very rewarding.
Jo Hall and Felicity Weatherby
Dr Challoner's High School

Spring Term 2013

Autumn Term 2012

Summer Term 2012

Spring Term 2012

Autumn Term 2011