Are you interested in a school visit? Staff members from UCD School of Physics are available to travel to schools in Ireland to answer questions and pass on information about physics. What is physics? What careers are available in physics?
| Science Missions of the European Space Agency, Prof. Lorraine Hanlon | |
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Talk summary: The development of rocket technology allowed us to launch satellites above the Earth's atmosphere and has opened up a whole new view of the universe to humankind. The revolution continues, gathering pace even 50 years after Sputnik's launch. From planetary exploration in our own solar system to the discovery of planets around other stars; from monitoring of the Earth's climate to studies of the remnant radiation from the Big Bang, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Science programme is world-leading. In this talk, I present a selection of the past, present and future science missions of the ESA and the role that Irish astronomers have played in some of these projects. Target audience: The talk is suitable for Transition Year, 5th and 6th year students. Duration: 30 minutes + 10 minutes for questions. Availability: The talk is available for presentation in schools from January through to March. |
 The nebula located in Orion's sword taken with the Watcher telescope, a 40-cm robotic telescope located in Bloemfontein, South Africa. |
| The Physics of the Animal Kingdom, Prof. Padraig Dunne | |
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Talk summary: The animal kingdom, including humans, is a fascinating place to study physics. From the senses to the skeleton, there is a multitude of examples where the application of simple physical principles can give a valuable insight. For example, why is the elephant the biggest land animal? Why are whales so much larger? How come an ant can jump 30 times its height while humans can barely manage to jump their own height? How do animals regulate their temperature and how do ground dwellers cool their burrows? In this talk the audience can vote on the topic they are most interested in from a menu, and I will address this topic. Target audience: The talk is suitable for Transition Year, 5th and 6th year students. Duration: 30 minutes + 10 minutes for questions. Availability: The talk is available for presentation in schools from January through to April. |
 An African elephant near the border of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania. |
| The computer: from abacus to Windows, Dr. John White | |
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Talk summary: Computers have advanced considerably over the last 50 years from the vacuum tube early electro-mechanical ENIAC to the sub-micron gate width of the current dual core desktop processors manufactured here in Leixlip. With astonishing computational speeds comes advanced physics simulations including particle physics, nano-bio and plasma modelling. Topics covered include:
a recent specification, a brief history, the guts of a computer, software computation, BASIC/Excel/HTML, networks/the internet and cryptography.
Along the way, we'll learn more about: Abacus and ENIAC, Sputnik and the PC, Boole and binary, hardware/software, computer programming and computational physics. A computer lab workshop can be included where available. Target audience: The talk is suitable for Transition Year, 5th and 6th year students. Duration: 30 minutes + 10 minutes for questions. Availability: The talk is available for presentation in schools from January through to March. |
 A snapshot of the internet from Wired magazine. |
For more information on school visits, please contact Lorraine Hanlon or Padraig Dunne.