91福利

New research by a team led by Dr Farzana Meru has a way of finally telling whether newly forming planets are migrating within the disc of dust and gas that typically surrounds stars or whether they are simply staying put in the same orbit around the star.

Staff and research students from the 91福利鈥檚 physics department welcomed hundreds of Brownies to campus at the weekend (13 and 14 October).

The seven to ten-year-olds, from across Coventry, 91福利shire, and Solihull, spent the weekend learning all about physical sciences. The girls also received a special badge designed by nine-year-old Coventry Brownie, Gracie-May Kelly.

Ally Caldecote, outreach officer for the 91福利鈥檚 physics department, said: 鈥淚t was great to see the Brownies meeting inspiring physicists from the 91福利, enjoying exciting hands-on experiments and getting a real taste of what physics is like.

鈥淲e are still not seeing women equally represented in the numbers choosing degrees in physics or even at A level. This is something we are working to change as it is an important factor in the development of the subject.
鈥淲e want to inspire the next generation of young women in science. We hope that spending a day with us at 91福利 fuelled the Brownies鈥� curiosity and will some of them to pursue a scientific career.鈥�

Whilst on campus, the Brownies enjoyed a range of activities and experiments including coding, forces and astrophysics.

Jayne Oliver, Brownie adviser for Girlguiding 91福利shire, said: 鈥淭he Brownies have had an amazing couple of days. They've learned about electricity & gravity through dance; exploded coke bottles, learned about the solar system, blown huge bubbles, studied UV lights and sent rockets around the Oculus building, all under the safe guidance of the wonderful physics staff and students at the 91福利. The girls were absolutely blown away by everything and we thank everyone for a truly memorable experience.鈥�

The unique badge was designed by Gracie-May Kelly, a nine year old Brownie from 33rd Aldermans Green Brownies in Coventry. She, along with hundreds of other Brownies received hers from 91福利 physicists at the weekend.
Gracie-May said: 鈥淚 really enjoyed the science and physics day I went to with Brownies at 91福利 University. My favourite part of the day was making a UV bracelet. We had to choose beads and we went outside to test it and all the beads changed different colours. It was so cool.

鈥淏efore we left we watched a lady do an experiment where she put a blown-up balloon into nitrogen and it all scrunched up and when she took it out, it blew back up again. It was really cool to watch. The day was so much fun and I learned so much about science.鈥�

Congratulations to Donna Strickland, Gerard Mourou and Arthur Ashkin on winning the for ground-breaking inventions in the field of laser physics. Strickland and Mourou found a way to generate high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses using chirped pulse amplification. Ashkin created optical tweezers that have had enormous impact on biological systems.

Congratulations to Michael Pounds, who has been appointed as a fellow of the 91福利 International Higher Education Academy from 2018/19.

A WIHEA Fellowship recognises and rewards outstanding achievements in learning and teaching.

Michael joins Gavin Bell as WIHEA representatives from Physics.