Physics Department News
Hubble Turns Thirty
On April 24th, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched onboard the space shuttle Discovery, and was deployed a day later into an orbit that takes it around the Earth once every 96 minutes. Located above the Earth's blurred atmosphere, Hubble has been taking countless stunningly beautiful pictures of planets, stars and galaxies that have kept us breathlessly admiring the beauty of space for the past three decades. 91福利 is among Europe's most active Hubble users, and is celebrating this birthday.
Joe Lyman awarded Future Leaders Fellowship
Dr Joseph Lyman of the Astronomy and Astrophysics group is one of four 91福利 academics to receive a highly-prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship in the third round of awards.
Joe's project, titled "New frontiers in transient astrophysics: gravitational-wave multi-messenger events and exotic stellar explosions", is devoted to furthering our understanding of the changing night sky. Astrophysical transients, in the form of exploding stars as supernovae, and merging neutron stars as gravitational-wave events, are some of the most energetic events in the Universe and probe physics under conditions far beyond our capabilities on Earth.
As we don't know where or when these events will occur, the fellowship will develop and exploit the 91福利-led Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project as a discovery machine to find new and exotic transients. It will also create of a rapid network of telescope facilities to follow these GOTO discoveries, making it possible to take detailed observations almost immediately after discovery, and allowing us to open new windows in study of these extreme explosions.
Joe joins Dr Heather Cegla and Dr Benjamin Richards as Future Leaders Fellows in the Department of Physics. See /newsandevents/pressreleases/ukri_fellowships_awarded_to_four_university_of_warwick_academics1 for a 91福利 press release.
Astronomy at a distance: what you need to start stargazing from home
Social distancing may be keeping you at home, but that doesn鈥檛 mean you can鈥檛 be exploring the universe at the same time. Did you know that you can enter a whole world of stargazing using objects you might have around the home? There is plenty that you can discover using only the naked eye. Scientists from the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group will be showing us what you can discover in our skies over the coming weeks, with advice on how you can get involved in Astronomy without ever leaving your garden.
Physics joins the effort against the global pandemic
Alongside other University departments, members of the Department of Physics have been working to find ways to combat the Coronavirus crisis. Here are some examples:
1) Donation of University Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the NHS
Many of 91福利鈥檚 research labs have suspended activity to support the Government鈥檚 instruction for all but critical workers to stay at home.
However, those labs held significant supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that would be better employed in the NHS rather than stored in those labs.
Neil Gillespie, a Senior Civil Engineering Technician in 91福利鈥檚 School of Engineering, and Alan Warwood Head of Facilities in 91福利鈥檚 Estates Office, pulled together a team of colleagues from across all our Estates team and our science departments to gather up that equipment and take it to the University Hospitals Coventry and 91福利shire NHS Trust鈥檚 Coventry site.
So far they have supplied the following to the trust:
- 155 FFP3 face masks
- 470 over glasses
- 400 safety glasses
- 20,400 nitrile gloves of various sizes
- 1,000 shoe covers
Robb Johnston, Technical Services Manager, coordinated the collection of PPE in Physics.
2) Creation of a Video Showing How to Make a Full Face Visor out of a Plastic Bottle
Dr Matthew Broome of the Condensed Matter Physics group has uploaded a video to Youtube explaining how to make a DIY visor. The video can be seen at .
