Total Solar Eclipse - 13th November 2012 (15/11/2012)
After more than two years without any total solar eclipses (the last one took place on July 11th, 2010), the Moon's shadow revisited the Earth's surface on 14th November 2012. The journey of the shadow began in Australia, and then moved out to the Pacific Ocean. The maximum of the eclipse, with a duration of 4 minutes and 2 seconds, occurred in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Professor Lorraine Hanlon of the UCD School of Physics is part of the GLORIA team that recorded the event.
Physics Open Evening a great success! (14/11/2012)
The open evening at the UCD School of Physics was attended by almost 100 secondary school pupils, many accompanied by their parents. They heard about the three degree programs on offer in Physics during 5 short talks in a session chaired by the Head of School, Prof Padraig Dunne. Graduates gave short talks about their their careers in business, radiation projection, geophysics and medical physics, and one third-year undergraduate spoke about his experiences to date and his plans for the next couple of years. The talks were followed by a reception in the Common Room where students had the opportunity to talk to the guest speakers, lecturers and students in the School.
The Write Stuff at the UCD School of Physics (24/10/2012)
UCD School of Physics saw three books written this year by staff members, highlighting a year of Science in Dublin and building on the success of past publications in teaching, outreach, and core research. Professor Peter Hogan, Emeritus Professor Alex Montwill, Emeritus Lecturer, Dr Ann Breslin and Adjunct Lecturer, Dr John White have all had books published in the last twelve months.
School of Physics Summer Internship Program 2012 (18/10/2012)
Fifteen undergraduate students participated in the 2012 School of Physics Summer Internship Program. There was a lot of interest in the program and it was four times oversubscribed. Nine UCD students and six students from other colleges worked as interns with staff and postgraduate students in School research groups. Follow the link to see their presentations.
Dr Tony Scott Recognised with People of the Year Award (06/07/2012)
Following on from the award to Dr Tony Scott of the Ulysses medal, on Bloomsday, June 16th, the Emeritus Lecturer in the UCD School of Physics has been recognised with a People of the Year Award, on September 15th. Tony, who has never really left UCD and continues to teach since “retiring” almost 8 years ago, received this award in recognition of his life-long outstanding contribution to the engagement of the public in science, and in particular founding almost 50 years ago what is now the BT Young Scientist and technology Exhibition.
Postgraduate short course on Imaging & Data (26/06/2012)
A master-class for postgraduate students, aiming to introduce the topics of imaging and data analysis, within the context of current research challenges in astrophysics, was held in UCD Physics from June 11th to 15th, 2012.
The Transit of Venus 2012 – Message to the Future (29/05/2012)
On June 5th/6th, 2012, just after midnight Central European Time, the planet Venus will start to cross the face of the Sun on a journey that will take it just over 6 and a half hours to complete. The last was in 2004 and the following one will not be until 2117.
School of Physics Research makes an Impact! (20/03/2012)
Academic staff at the UCD School of Physics have had a measurable impact on research in their field, achieving a score of 3.2 in the Normalized Citation Impact, as used by the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. This is relative to a global average of 1.0.
Particle Physics Masterclass at UCD (20/03/2012)
On March 12th 60 students from 35 schools in Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Tipperary, Monaghan, and Louth came to UCD to take part in the International Masterclass on Particle Physics. The event attracts over 8000 students worldwide and this year was the first time students from Ireland were involved.
UCD Physics celebrate as the 2012 champions of the IOPI intervarsity quiz (08/03/2012)
Buswell’s Hotel was on the doorstep for the Dublin teams attending the IOP in Ireland fourth intervarsity quiz on 3 March – and happily UCC and NUIG travelled to ensure that the quiz remained an ‘all Ireland’ event.
Physics in UCD 2012 Images of Research competition (23/02/2012)
Quantum dots, adsorbed on a layer of titanium dioxide deposited on a conductive glass electrode, harvest light and can directly convert this into electricity via photo-induced injection of excited electrons into the conduction band of titanium dioxide. This image was created by Physics PhD student, Jennifer O'Reilly and was one of the runners-up in UCD's 2012 Images of Research competition.
Shedding new light on eye disease (01/02/2012)
It’s sometimes said the eyes are windows into the soul - but with the right technology they can also offer insights into their own health. Being able to image tiny structures and cells in the eye can potentially identify the early stages of degenerative blindness, and it may also help eye surgeons carry out corrective procedures. So Dr Brian Vohnsen and his team at the Advanced Optical Imaging Group in UCD are developing ways to image the eye both closely and rapidly.
Quantum physics enables perfectly secure cloud computing (20/01/2012)
Researchers have succeeded in combining the power of quantum computing with the security of quantum cryptography and have shown that perfectly secure cloud computing can be achieved using the principles of quantum mechanics. They have performed an experimental demonstration of quantum computation in which the input, the data processing, and the output remain unknown to the quantum computer. The international team of scientists published the results of the experiment in the recent issue of Science. (Image by Equinox Graphics)
UCD School of Physics Transition Year event (STYPE) (24/12/2011)
This year's event hosted 28 student from Dublin and surrounding counties for a week of physics based activities. See the full illustrated report.
Physics FM episode 2
(19/12/2011)
UCD Transition Year Physics Experience took control of the PhysicsFM studio this week. The result? A new rap. An attempted interview with a Black Hole and a Higgs Boson. Weather updates for the Christmas season, with special guest Frosty the Snowman. And some travel options if you fancy escaping the cold. All covered at www.physicsfm.tumblr.com
Physicists focus in on Higgs boson – the so called ‘God particle’ (16/12/2011)
Two experimental physics groups at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research - the world's leading laboratory for particle physics - have reported significant progress in the search for the Higgs boson, referred to as the ‘God particle’ in popular culture.
Follow us on Physics FM! (23/11/2011)
Why is the sky blue? How long is one second? Is there a link between the two? Transition year students at Rathdown School in Dublin have been bending their minds around the rather complex answers to some of the simplest questions one can ask. Listening to talks entitled “Illuminating Time”, “Quirks of Quantum Mechanics” and “Topics in Modern Physics”, led the students, in conjunction with their teacher, Ms. Lisa Banahan, to produce the very first episode of “Physics FM”.
Light from Gamma-ray Burst Afterglow Reveals Composition of Galaxies in the Early Universe (05/11/2011)
An international team of astronomers, including Dr. Sheila McBreen from UCD School of Physics, has used the brief but bright light from a distant gamma-ray burst source to study the composition of very distant galaxies. The new observations, made with the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope, have revealed two galaxies in the young Universe that are richer in heavy chemical elements than the Sun.
UCD Physics student success at European ‘Scipreneur’ competition (20/10/2011)
UCD Physics undergraduate and entrepreneur, Rhona Togher, was selected to go to the Scipreneur competition as an alumnus of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair and won the second prize with her team.
Irish Astronomers participate in major pulsar discovery (07/10/2011)
Astronomers at four Irish third level institutions including Dr John Quinn of UCD School of Physics have participated in the detection of pulsed gamma-ray emission from the Crab Pulsar at energies far beyond what current theoretical models of pulsars can explain. Their results are published in a paper in the October 7th issue of the prestigious journal Science.
Physics Conferrings September 2011 (20/09/2011)
The School celebrated the achievements of its undergraduate and graduate students at the September conferrings, with a reception in the Physics Common Room for the new graduates and their supporters.
High Energy Astrophysics Summer School 2011 (19/07/2011)
The summer school organised by UCD School of Physics and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies took part in UCD on 04th-15th July, 2011 and was attended by about 70 delegates.
Physics in Ireland: the brightest minds go further (15/06/2011)
Minister for Research & Innovation, Seán Sherlock, launched a new report from the Institute of Physics in Ireland on Irish physics graduates: According to the report, One-in-seven physics graduates is earning more than €100,000 a year. They tend to start at a higher salary than many other graduates and continue on a lucrative career path.
'The Art of Physics' (31/05/2011)
Artist Emer O'Boyle presents her vision of the School of Physics people and research.
Reality in a Fishbowl (20/05/2011)
Reality in a Fishbowl is a multimedia student exhibition that follows a new collaborative module between UCD School of Physics and Fine Art NCAD. The module is called Tunnelling Art and Physics. The exhibition showcases 11 students from art and physics, using creative and scientific processes to explore the relationship between the two disciplines.
3rd Annual IOP Intervarsity Quiz (13/03/2011)
Friday March 4th saw an epic battle between seven Irish University Physics teams (UCD, UCC, TCD, QUB, UL, NUIM, DCU). The UCD Physics common room provided an intimate venue for this, the third Institute of Physics (IOP) Intervarsities Quiz.
ACAM Workshops 2011 (19/02/2011)
Atlantic Centre for Atomistic Modelling is organising and hosting a number of research workshops this year. The topics include computational aspects of Density Functional Theory, mechanics of amorphous materials, molecules in electric field, etc.
Hamilton award to UCD Physics student (19/01/2011)
Mark Ross-Lonergan, a Theoretical Physics student at the UCD School of Physics, was the UCD winner of the Royal Irish Academy Hamilton Prize 2010 for achieving the best performance in Mathematics in nine of the Higher Education Institutions in Ireland.
Retirement of Mr. Victor Litera (19/01/2011)
Victor Litera retired as Senior Technical Officer in the UCD School of Physics in November 2010, after 40 years of loyal and continuous service.
Physics Conferrings December 2010 (20/12/2010)
The School celebrated the achievements of its undergraduate and graduate students at the December conferrings, with a reception in the Physics Common Room. It was a very special day for all the graduands, as well as their families and friends. We are very proud of all they have achieved and wish them well in their future careers.
China Scholarship Scheme (16/12/2010)
UCD and the China Scholarship Council (CSC) affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China have established a scholarship scheme to assist Chinese students to pursue postgraduate research in UCD leading to a PhD.
New ideas come to light through project-based learning (15/12/2010)
The module PHYC10170 is now running in its third year and has successfully proven the value, team spirit, and organization obtained via group work on topics of high current relevance such as energy, transport, communication, and more.
Retirement of Prof. Peter Mitchell (02/12/2010)
Professor Peter Mitchell retired from the staff of the UCD School of Physics on September 30th 2010, after a distinguished academic career spanning 40 years. An excellent colleague and friend, we thank Peter for all he has given to both students and staff at University College Dublin, and wish him every happiness in his retirement.
It is Rocket Science - Helen Keen Lecture (16/10/2010)
Helen Keen loves space rockets. She brings their story to life with a fusion of stand-up comedy and tinfoil in her award-winning show –soon to be a BBC Radio 4 series. Join her joyful exploration of stargazing, space-racing, the boundless possibilities of an infinite universe. ‘IT IS ROCKET SCIENCE!’ will take you on a whistle-stop tour around the Great Brains who put monkeys, ladies, dogs and gentlemen into orbit. It is coming to UCD on December 2nd 2010.
Up up and away! (22/04/2010)
Each December for the last three years, the UCD School of Physics has hosted groups of Transition Year students. Here you can read about the 2009 event.
UCD Physics academics publish in Nature & Science (08/12/2009)
Two academic staff members of the UCD School of Physics have recently published articles in the prestigeous journals Nature & Science.