NEWS

Open Labs during Science Week 2012

Left: President Prof. Philip Nolan admiring the new demo built by Stephen Scully;
right: something fishy going on here?

Under the title Everyday Experimenting in Maynooth, on 16 November 2012 the Experimental Physics Department opened its laboratories with lots of hand-on experiments for children of all ages.

Dr. Stephen Haywood - The Higgs Boson

Dr. Stephen Haywood with members of Astro2.

On 14 November 2012 Dr. Stephen Haywood (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK & ATLAS Collaboration at CERN) gave a seminar entitled Hunting the Higgs Boson. This was an event for Science Week 2012 organised by Astro2, the Physics and Astronomy Society at NUI Maynooth. To an audience of about 100 people, Dr. Haywood gave an exciting and fascinating lecture about elementary particle physics, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and the recent measurements indicating the existence of the Higgs Boson.

Open Labs during Science Week 2011

Hair-raising experiments with the Van de Graaff generator.

On 18 November 2011 the Experimental Physics Department opened its laboratories with hands-on experiments demonstrating many aspects of physics.

Dr. Mark Clampin - Exoplanets

Dr. Mark Clampin with members of Astro2.

On 17 November 2011 Dr. Mark Clampin (Goddard Space Flight Centre, NASA, USA) gave a seminar on exoplanets, entitled Observing New Worlds with Space Observatories. This was an event for Science Week 2011 organised by Astro2, the Physics and Astronomy Society at NUI Maynooth. In recent years over 700 exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than the Sun) have been detected using a variety of methods.

Prof. Jocelyn Bell - Will the World End in 2012?

Prof. Jocelyn Bell with members of Astro2.

Prof. Jocelyn Bell, Oxford University, visited the Department of Experiemental physics on 29 March 2011 on the invitation from Astro2. The title of her lecture was Will the World End in 2012?: the Astronomical Evidence. We have all heard the Mayan theory of catastrophic events in December 2012. Prof. Bell gave an entertaining and informative talk exploring many of the theories relating to planet alignment etc. However in conclusion, she assured her audience that there was no astronomical evidence to support the theory.

Maynooth Physics Students win the IOP Nexus Inter-Varsity Quiz 2011

IOP Intervarsity Quiz - Winners 2010/11 NUIM.
l-r, Eoin Miller, Eoin O'Brien, Donal O'Sullivan (sitting), Stephen McNulty, Anthony Donohoe.

Maynooth Physics Students, members of the Institute of Physics branch at NUIM, won the Nexus Intervarsity Quiz which was held in the UCD School of Physics on Friday 4 March 2011. Seven teams competed from UCD, DCU, UCC, TCD, QUB, UL and NUIM. They won the cup from University College Cork who were champions in 2008/09 and 2009/2010. TCD and DCU tied in second place. The cup is now on display in the Physics Department. A big Congratulations to all involved.

European Space Agency Press Release: HIFI first light (Orion Nebula)

On 4 March 2010 a spectacular spectrum of the Orion nebula was released to the public showing new information about the chemistry of star forming regions of space. The Terahertz Space Optics Group from the Experimental Physics Department has contributed significantly to the development and calibration of the HIFI instrument for the Herschel Space Observatory. For full details click here.