Category Archives: Third level

August 17, 2012 · 4:52 pm

September conference: origins of the expanding universe

A conference next month will celebrate the pioneering work of the American astronomer Vesto Slipher. On September 13-15th, the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, will host the conference The Origins of the Expanding Universe to commemmorate the hundredth anniversary of Slipher’s measurements of the motion of the distant nebulae; see here for the conference website.

As readers of this blog will know, Slipher observed that the light from many of the distant nebulae was redshifted, i.e. shifted to lower frequency than normal. This was the first  indication that the distant nebulae are moving away at significant speed and it was an important hint that some nebulae are in fact distinct galaxies far beyond our own Milky Way (see cosmology 101 section). A few years later, Edwin Hubble combined Slipher’s redshift results with his own measurements of distance to establish that there is a linear relation between the distance to a galaxy and its rate of recession; the relation became known as Hubble’s law although it probably should be called the Hubble/Slipher law.

The Hubble/Slipher discovery of the recession of the galaxies  was a key step along the road to the discovery of the expanding universe, but the two are not quite the same thing; for the latter, one needs to situate the phenomenon in the context of the general theory of relativity (according to relativity, the galaxies appear to be moving away from one another because space is expanding). The Belgian physicist Georges Lemaitre was the first to make the connection between the relativistic universe and the observed recession of the galaxies, although his contribution is often overlooked. A major thrust of the conference is to explore exactly such distinctions; looking at the lineup, it looks like an intriguing mixture of cosmologists, astronomers and historians.

All this is highly relevant to my yet-to-be-completed book so after a long, wet summer at WIT, I’m off to sunny Arizona next month!  My own talk is titled ‘Who discovered the expanding universe?’ and I intend to compare and contrast the contributions of various pioneers such as Slipher, Hubble, Humason, Friedmann and Lemaitre. You can see a list of speakers and abstracts for the talks here.

Many thanks to Peter Coles of In the Dark for drawing the conference to my attention.

Update

Going on holiday just as classes start back? Nice job – Ed.

Sigh. I haven’t had a day off all summer and this is not a holiday.

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July 21, 2012 · 6:28 pm

O’Raifeartaigh Conference in Munich

I’m in Munich this weekend, at a physics conference in honour of my late father. The 2012 O’Raifeartaigh Conference is taking place in Munich’s Ludwig Maximilians Universität (LMU) and there are speakers here from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, the University of Tokyo, the Niels Bohr Institute (DK), the Eugene Wigner Institute (HN) and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

It sounds rather grand, but such memorial conferences are a good way for researchers who work in related fields to meet and present their latest work to each other. Many of the speakers worked with Dad at one stage or another and I think he would be very pleased to be remembered in this way. There are also some really sharp young scholars here and he would have liked that too. It’s the third memorial conference in Lochlainn’s memory, see here for the programme and other details.

Munich itself is fantastic – the university is right in the middle of the city and the neighbourhood is full of bookshops, coffee-houses, museums and beer gardens. The teaching term is not yet finished in Germany so there are students everywhere (don’t tell Minister Quinn!). In fact, I have never seen so many bicycles and bookshops in one place. The conference talks are in the University’s Arnold –Sommerfeld Centre for Theoretical Physics and the building has a Museum for Modern Art on one side and a music conservatoire or Musik Hochshule down the block. I could get used to this.

LMU University Munich (Main Entrance)

Lochlainn’s work concerned the use of mathematical symmetry methods to describe the physics of the elementary particles. Throughout his career at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, he was considered a leading expert in the field. He is probably best known for his contributions to a radical theory known as ‘supersymmetry’, a theory that is currently being tested at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. You can read more on his career by clicking on the tab Lochlainn on the top of the page.

There are some great talks here although some are are far beyond the comprehension of yours truly (an experimentalist). As always, I’m impressed by the style of presentation in theoretical physics; there are no polite powerpoint lectures here, but chalk-and-blackboard sessions with searching questions from the audience every few minutes. ‘‘Does that function even have a ground state?’, a speaker was asked within the first two minutes of his talk. ‘‘Well, it doesn’t in anti-deSitter space, but I hope to convince you that it does in deSitter space”, was the response. Answers to the frequent questions are tackled at the board until everyone in the room is satisfied. No-one gets away with anything here, from the youngest postdoc to the most eminent physicist. I think it’s a style of presentation that helps both lecturer and audience and I wish the humanities would adopt it – my pet hate is listening politely to a philosopher or historian for an hour before one gets to question a statement made in the first three minutes.

I gave a short talk myself on Friday. This was a ‘life-in-science’ presentation where I used pictures of people and places that influenced Lochlainn during his career: from his early work on general relativity with JL Synge  at the Dublin Institute for Advances Studies to his work on quantum field theory with Walter Heitler at the University of Zurich, from his use of group theory to prove his famous no-go theorem at Syracuse University in New York State to his work on the history of gauge theory at L’Institut des Hautes Etudes in Paris. I was worried I might have got some things wrong (e.g. “No, that work was completely incidental!’’), but thankfully it didn’t happen. In fact, I think the audience enjoyed the presentation as many of them had known the people and places mentioned at firsthand. You can find the photos and slides I used here.

Update

The conference is over today so Mum and I took an open bus tour of Munich. I find this a great way to get to know any city and it didn’t disappoint. Munich may not be as large as Berlin or Hamburg, but it is the capital of Bavaria and is an extremely impressive city. I’m amazed by the huge number of parks, wide boulevards and splendid buildings – clearly, it was did not suffer as much as so many other German cities from bombing in the war. This is one of the great privileges of being an academic – you get to see the most interesting places, all in the line of work.

The ‘heroes’ monument on Leopoldstrasse

And finally

On the way back to the hotel, I was intrigued to see a huge banner draped over the main university entrance; the legend’ STRINGS 2012′ is leaving the whole city in no doubt that a major conference on string theory is about to take place here! Such a civilised country..

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July 16, 2012 · 2:52 pm

Schrödinger, Heuer, the Higgs boson and a European science festival in Dublin

Last week, I attended the ESOF science meeting in Dublin. The Euroscience Open Forum is a science festival held in a European city every two years; Dublin won the contract for 2012 (and built a year-long science festival around it, see here for details of the Dublin City of Science).  The stated aims of ESOF conferences are

  • to showcase the latest advances in science and technology
  • to promote a dialogue on the role of science and technology in society
  • to stimulate and provoke public interest in science and technology

I think the Dublin meeting achieved these aims in spades. It was a superb conference with a large number of interesting events, from top-level keynote talks (speakers included 5 Noble laureates) to smaller interactive seminars. The main venue was also a pleasant surprise -a beautiful light -filled and airy convention centre with a multitude of auditoria, lecture theatres and smaller conference rooms.

The new convention centre in Dublin, the main venue for ESOF 2012

One of the most interest events was ‘What is Life?- A 21st Century Perspective‘, presented at Trinity College Dublin by the Royal Irish Academy. This was a revisiting of the famous public lectures given by Schrödinger in Dublin in 1942 during his tenure at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. Craig Venter, celebrated for his contribution to the sequencing of the human genome, gave an overview of Schrodinger’s influence on the work of Crick and Watson in their search for the structure of DNA, and how their work led in turn to the modern science of genetics and genomics. Even the booklet accompanying the lecture contained some fascinating information, from a superb account of Schrödinger’s life and career (by Prof Luke Drury of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), to a copy of a letter from Francis Crick to Schrödinger thanking him for his inspiration!

Craig Venter

For physicists, the big event was a lecture by Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director-general of CERN, on the recent discovery of a Higgs-like particle at the Large Hadron Collider. This was quite a coup for Dublin as it was one of Heuer’s first public lectures since the landmark discovery. In fact, he took part in three events; an evening lecture at Trinity College Dublin (hosted by Astronomy Ireland), a Q&A workshop at the Royal Irish Academy and a keynote lecture at the conference centre. All the events were packed out and deservedly so. It is not an easy task to explain almost a century of particle physics in 45 minutes, yet Heuer does it time and again with ease, whilst simultaneously conveying the excitement of the experimental work at the Large Hadron Collider. His constant emphasis on the teamwork of experimentalists, engineers and analysts gives a direct view of just why this unique inter-european project has become the NASA of the particle world. (He has a great quote on the work of the giant detectors: “it’s like looking for a needle in a field of haystacks, all made of similar needles”). Last but not least, Prof Heuer took the time to draw a connection with the groundbreaking accelerator work of the Irish physicist Ernest Walton, a connection that is often forgotten when the LHC is discussed in Ireland.

Profess0r Rolf-Dieter Heuer, DG of CERN, in Dublin at ESOF 2012

There were many other great events; Brian Greene’s lecture ‘The State of String Theory‘ was a superb performace, I don’t know another scientist who puts on quite such a show. Other highlights were Jocelyn Bell’s ‘We are made of star stuff’ and Lisa Randall’s ‘High Energies and Short Distances’. Truly, an embarrassment of riches. If you like a strong mix of brilliant physics and clear philosophy of science, get Lisa’s fabulous new book Knocking on Heaven’s Door. On a different theme, President Robinson’s lecture ‘Equity and climate science‘ described how climate change will impact on the poorest nations of the world, and reminded every scientist in the room of one of the most important scientific issues of all.

Like all conferences, the networking was almost the best part; I met colleagues I haven’t seen since my undergraduate days, not to mention a great many of my former professors. This is the real importance of such events; it’s very interesting discussing the latest developments in science with one’s former teachers! All in all, it was a superb conference for anyone with an interest in science and I hope to attend the next meeting in Copenhagen in 2014.

Taking a break with Peter Mctchell of UCD (who taught me low-temperature physics) and Lisa Randall, the Harvard string theorist

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June 12, 2012 · 1:00 pm

You must be on your holidays now

You must be on your holidays now? I’m confronted with this question/accusation every time I go shopping in my village these days. Almost everyone I know assumes that lecturers merely teach and the summer holidays are ours to enjoy at our leisure.

I never know how to correct this misapprehension. Usually, I just nod amiably – after all, the main thing is that I have a job I really enjoy doing. However, it worries me that there is such widespread misunderstanding of academia. Occasionally, I try to explain that ‘holiday-time’ is in fact the only time I get to do any research. However, I usually get the feeling the questioner either doesn’t believe me or thinks I’m a fool for not putting our generous holidays to good use.

And the official holidays are generous, there’s no question. In the Institutes of Technology, staff do not have to report formally for work from June 20th to September 1st. It sounds great, doesn’t it? But for those engaged in research at any level (and it’s very difficult to get a job teaching to degree or master’s level if you are not engaged in some sort of research), this is the only time such work gets done.

In my case, I used to head back to my alma mater Trinity College as soon as term ended, doing experimental work in the magnetic resonance lab. These days, I’m more involved in writing science. This summer, I’m working on a book on cosmology, aimed at a popular audience. I started it last summer at Harvard and have been tipping away whenever I can during a very busy semester. Now I have a good opportunity to finish. I don’t think of this as a chore; like most academics, I see this sort of work as an important part of my job and it’s very satisfying. I really like working in the college over the summer months, it’s a very nice environment of quiet academic activity.

I also have two conferences in August and next month I’m giving a public talk on Irish astronomy and the big bang. So it’ll be a busy summer, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest as long as I get away for the odd weekend. As for travel, I’m coming round to the view that most countries are simply too hot for me in the summer and I like the variability of Irish weather. I’ll take a few weekends in the west coast of Ireland, playing tunes in the pubs at night and surfing during the day, that’ll do nicely…

It’s a tough life – Ed

Update

This blog has been nominated for an award, the Three Quarks Daily 2012 Awards. If you like the blog, why not throw in a vote here.  That said, there are some great blogs on the nominee page, I’m having fun browsing them all

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May 22, 2012 · 3:14 pm

Exam corrections

I’ve just finished correcting the last exam script of summer 2012.  No more corrections until August, yipee. That said, I don’t really mind correcting the semester exams, unlike most of my colleagues. One reason is that I see it as a form of feedback, if pretty shocking sometimes!

Oh joy

It’s probably true that correcting maths or physics exams is somewhat easier than fighting your way through hundreds of poorly-written essays. (I suspect it’s also less depressing – I often think the standard of literacy amongst our students is more worrying than their lack of mathematical ability). By the time I have corrected the first ten physics scripts of any course, I have usually committed every possible answer to memory, so the job goes quite quickly. Also,  I like a task that has a definite beginning, middle and end with room for targets and treats along the way…

In our college, exam scripts are corrected by name and the students sometimes campaign for anonymous marking. Little do they know that from a teacher’s perspective, it’s much harder to fail a person than a number, particularly if you know that student made a decent effort during the semester. Indeed, a great deal of correction time goes into trying to trying to find a few extra marks for the borderliners; if anything, I would expect pass marks to drop if anonymous marking was introduced.

The main downside of examinations is the administration. Combining exam results with attendance and continuous assessment marks, and getting the totals to the department in time for the course board meetings is no trivial task if one is teaching several different courses . Worse, there are always one or two students who seem to have appeared out of nowhere, with an ensuing search for their educational record and assessment results.

By the end of this week, the innumerable departmental meetings will be over, and we will be ready to meet the externs next week. After all that, the results become official and I will finally, finally get back to research…


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May 5, 2012 · 9:00 pm

A letter to the Minister for Education

On Friday evening, I gave a public talk on the big bang at Blackrock Castle in Cork. I always enjoy giving public science talks, but this one was special (slides here). The venue was a beautiful castle overlooking the sea and I was enormously impressed with the science outreach work being done there by Dr Niall Smith, director of research at Cork Institute of Technology. I was equally impressed with the new observatory at the castle and the astronomy program of Niall and his postgraduate students. Superb work in a fantastic location, surely an inspiration for generations of young students.

Blackrock Castle in Cork: the white dome above the tower is the observatory

I left Cork early on Saturday morning in order to travel to Dublin to catch the High Flyers conference of the Institute of Physics (this is what physicists get up to on bank holiday weekends!). On my way to the meeting, I heard the Irish Minister for Education interviewed on RTE Radio One (Marian Finucane show, May 5th). The Minister had many interesting things to say on subjects such as RTE, the Catholic Church, a recent libel case in Ireland and the near-paralysis of political process in the United States (the latter is a most unusual topic for a politician over here). However, I was taken aback to hear him refer to “problems of productivity in the third level sector, particularly in the Institutes of Technology”, and disappointed that the interviewer didn’t seek some clarification on the comment.

I would very much like to know what the Minister meant by this comment. What do we understand by ‘productivity’ in the context of the third level education? How is it measured? Is it the number of students taught? Number of Noble prizes for research?  Perhaps some Soviet-style quota of engineers graduated? Like all Institute lecturers, I have a heavy teaching load; we produce legions of exactly the sort of science, computing and engineering graduates that Ireland so desperately needs. I must say I grow weary of generalizations like this about third level academics from journalists and politicians, and such a comment from the top man in education is pretty serious. Not a scintilla of evidence was offered by the Minister in support of his remark, just a casually delivered public insult to my colleagues and I.

Here’s the thing, Minister Quinn: like almost all lecturers in the Institutes of Technology (IoTs), I teach between four and five different courses per semester to degree level, a larger teaching load than any third level college in the world as far as I know; add research and outreach activity to this and it is no surprise I am in the office until 9 pm at least four days a week. In terms of prep, each semester typically presents at least one new module to teach, involving months of preparation over the summer, where I would hope to be concentrating on research, finishing my book and attending conferences. (I teach diverse courses in mathematics and physics to students in the departments of computing, engineering and science, not to mention more specialized modules in quantum physics, cosmology and particle physics – how many Harvard professors can boast such a wide teaching portfolio?).

‘Yes, but what about other IoT lecturers?’, the Minister will ask. I imagine I have a more accurate view of the work of my colleagues than the Minister’s advisors and I have no complaints. Indeed, the limited time I have for research arises because other lecturers take on the bulk of student administration (the large number of classes in the IoTs necessitates a great deal of admin; Year Tutors and Course Leaders spend a great deal of time keeping track of attendance, assessments, lab performance  and exam results). There are no easy lecturing jobs.

I love my job and stopped counting the overtime years ago. However, it is frustrating to hear the work of lecturers in the institutes and the universities denigrated by politicians who know nothing of what we do. The tragedy is, I suspect the binary system of universities and institutes has served Ireland very well, although few in charge of education seem to realize it. As they consider the future of the third level sector, I hope politicians and their advisors will make an effort to understand the current system, rather than indulge in unsupported generalizations.

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December 7, 2011 · 5:49 pm

Last day of semester

Today was the last day of lectures in the first semester, hurrah. There’s something very satisfying about emptying out the teaching briefcase and filing the notes and overheads back on the bookcase until next year. (Yes, we have computers and data projectors in Waterford, but I still use overheads quite a bit). The students now have a study week followed by exams but for lecturers, it’s an ideal time to get back to research.

I’m frequently asked if WIT is a let down after Harvard, but I must say I enjoyed this semester no end. I taught maths (to 1st science), physics (to 1st engineering) and my ‘concepts in cosmology’ course to our physics students. I’m writing a book based on the latter so it was fun summarizing a chapter each week and presenting it in class as bullet points. After each lecture, I found myself rushing back to the office to rewrite a paragraph or re-jig an explanation – very satisfying!

Motivated students

Then there was the neutrino experiment; a superb opportunity for public lectures on relativity. Like almost all physicists, I expect this result is an anomaly because neutrinos are known to have a finite rest mass. I really enjoy explaining this in outreach lectures so long may the anomaly survive! The Trinity lecture was very satisfying, we got a great crowd including some very eminent physicists.

Now I have four weeks to work quietly on the book, uninterrupted by classes – what a job!

Update

Meanwhile, rumours continue to circulate in the media about a possible sighting of the Higgs boson. I haven’t heard anything in physics circles so I’m betting it’s a false alarm based on a misunderstanding of the purpose of next week’s roundup meeting at CERN (see here for more on the rumours). Still, I’ll be keeping an eye on the news on Tuesday!

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