Archive for Cardiff Scientific Society

B2FH

Posted in The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2012 by telescoper

I spent a pleasant evening yesterday at a public lecture arranged by Cardiff Scientific Society and given by Professor Mike Edmunds, former Head of the School of Physics & Astronomy at Cardiff University and now Emeritus Professor here. The subject of his talk was Origin of the Chemical Elements, a subject Mike has worked on for many years. Here’s the abstract of his talk:

When the Universe was 300,000 years old, the only chemical elements with significant abundance were hydrogen, helium and a small amount of lithium. All the atoms of all the other elements in the Periodic Table have been synthesised during the 13.7 billion years since that time. Research in physics and astronomy over the last 64 years has allowed us to identify the nuclear processes involved, including the importance of the humble neutron in the manufacture of the heavier elements. We now have a good picture of the astronomical sites where elements such as the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and iron in our bodies were made, including violent supernova explosions. It is a picture that appears almost, but not quite, complete.

That last sentence is tempting fate a bit, but it’s fair comment! The lecture, which I had the pleasure of chairing, was both entertaining and informative, and very warmly received by the large audience in the Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre (in the National Museum of Wales).

Inevitably in a talk on this subject, the subject came up of the classic work of Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler and Hoyle in 1957 (a paper usually referred to as B2FH after the initials of its authors). It’s such an important contribution, in fact, that it has its own wikipedia page…

This reminded me that one of the interesting astronomical things I’ve acquired over the years is a preprint of the B2FH paper. Younger readers will probably not be aware of preprints – we all used to post them in large numbers to (potentially) interested colleagues before publication to get comments – because in the age of the internet people don’t really bother to make them any more.

Anyway, here’s a snap of it.

It’s a hefty piece of work, and an important piece of astronomical history. In years to come perhaps it may even acquire some financial value. Who knows?

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MSSL & CSS

Posted in Biographical, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , on February 17, 2011 by telescoper

I was up early yet again this morning to catch a train to Guildford. From there I was whisked off by a taxi into the Surrey countryside to visit MSSL,  or the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Mullard Space Science Laboratory, which is an outpost of University College London. No sooner had I got there and I was whisked off again to a very nice local country pub for lunch and a pint, before being returned, suitably inebriated, to give my seminar.

I’ve never been to MSSL before – nor Guildford, for that matter – and my day out was a very pleasant surprise. Not only were there no disasters on the trains, despite having to travel via Reading, but the fine springlike weather gave me good views of the green and pleasant land that is Surrey. MSSL is itself on the top of a hill, and on a clear day you can see as far as the Sussex downs to the South. But not quite today as it was a little misty.

I had to leave not long after my talk finished in order to get back to Guildford, a drive of about 40 minutes. I got there with about 15 minutes to spare, but it turned out that the train before the one I was intending to catch was about 15 minutes late so I got straight on it. I thus got to Reading two minutes ahead of the train before the one I was planning to catch there, so in the end got home about half an hour early. Which was nice.

I enjoyed the visit there enormously. Everyone was very friendly. Apparently, some of them even read this blog so I’d like to say thanks for the invitation and for struggling manfully to stay awake as I droned on after the pub lunch.

I didn’t get much time to post yesterday either, because I had to attend a function organised by Cardiff Scientific Society (of which I am a Committee Member). This was the occasion of the annual Lord Phillips Memorial Lecture, given this year by Professor Sir Brian Hoskins on the subject of Jet Streams in Weather and Climate. Jet streams are fascinating but highly complex phenomena and it’s clear that there’s a lot about them meteorologists don’t understand fully. One thing I did learn during the lecture, however, was that when people say that changes in the Atlantic jet stream “cause” unusual weather (such as our recent cold spell, or the floods of 2007), they’re wrong. It seems clear that the jet stream is part of the atmospheric pattern that gives rise to such events but can’t be said to be responsible for them.

Anyway, after a fascinating lecture we adjourned with the speaker to the Vice-Chancellor’s dining room, for a (fairly) late supper. One of the perks of the job, I guess. I wasn’t too late getting home, and got to bed early enough to make getting up at 6am not too stressful.

With another busy day tomorrow, and a UCAS event on Saturday that I (unwisely) volunteered to help with, I think I’m going to get an early night tonight.

 

Toodle-pip!


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